Of Roses and Dragons
by NobleMETA
Summary: Ruby is sent out on a quest to bring together a group, destined to kill the legendary and destructive Black Dragon. Danger and evil appear at every turn, with an ancient creature lurking in the shadows.-RWBY AU Story with influence from The Hobbit.
1. The Huntress and The Knight

**AN: Before I get started, I would like to say a few things. Yes I know that the city of Esgaroth is in the Hobbit. I pretty much am using it because I can't think of any other cool name. That being said, Anything related to LotR, the Hobbit, or RWBY is not mine, I do not own any of it, and all rights belong to the creators. ****This chapter was originally supposed to be two separate chapters, however I felt they were both too short and so I just put them together. That being said, the idea of this story came to me when I was listening to the song I See Fire, which is what plays during the credits of Desolation of Smaug. I spent much time working with this story for the first few chapters, and I am pleased with where it is going so far, but for now, I present to you, the first chapter for Of Roses and Dragons.**

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Esgaroth, the crown jewel of Vale. A city teeming with life and industry. Few cities matched its beauty, its presence. Esgaroth was built into the mountain, with a beautiful waterfall that runs along its inner walls, and a river that cuts threw the city to shape its marvel even more. But while the city may be known for its beauty, it is also the home of the Huntsman. A group of men and women that come from all lands, that are defenders of peace and the shield against darkness. Thus the city of Esgaroth has earned the title, the City of Eternal Light.

But while Esgaroth may be the crown jewel of Vale, it was not the only thing the realm had to offer. Vale was a champion of industry, its forges famous for crafting some of the finest weapons in all the world. A craftsman from Vale was given high regards from all lands, and many other goods often pass through Vale before going to the other kingdoms.

Even as the rain came down on them,the city was still lively. The people still walked about the streets, including a young Huntress, a female member of the Huntsman, who was followed closely behind by a young, unproven solider. The Huntress was wearing a black shirt covered by a dark red vest that had a hood, which was up to protect her from the rain. Running over her shoulders and around was a fur cloth that kept her warm, and steel bracers adorned her arms. She ore black pants with leather boots and steel bracers on her legs. Along her waist was a tan cloth that was wrapped around in a way that it overlapped itself in the front, and along the back sat her weapon.

The young solider following her, wore the traditional armor of the Vale Military. The rain soaked them both as they passed through the city streets, heading towards the king's hall. The Huntress pushed through with ease, her confidence exuded in every step she took. The solider did not have the same fortune, as he often fell behind and had to catch up. After about ten minutes of walking, they arrived upon the king's hall, where a guard stood between them and the door.

"Halt, state your business with the king."

The Huntress pulled the hood off of her head, revealing her silver eyes, and her black hair adorned with tips of crimson. The solider then approached the guard at the gate. "The King requested her presence sir." He said, the huntress noting the shyness of his tone.

"I was speaking to the girl, not you Jaune." The young slider lowered his head in shame. The guard then returned his attention to the Huntress, moving closer to her, getting in her face in a threatening way. "Now let's try this again. State your business."

The Huntress smirked, then inched even closer to the guard. "Huntsman business."

Upon hearing this, the guard stepped back and off to the side quickly, allowing her to pass through. She looked at the solider accompanying her and indicated for him to follow her inside. He did so, looking to have cheered up at the sight of the guardsman backing down the way he did. The doors opened to them, and they entered the king's hall. At the end of the hall, sat the king's throne, a man with silver hair seated upon the throne. Once the two entered the hall, the king turned his attention towards them. "The Huntress returns. Welcome back to Esgaroth Ruby." He said.

The Huntress approached the throne, stopping before it and bowing to the king. "My lord Ozpin. As fine a welcome as ever."

The king stood up and walked to stand directly in front of her. "I take it your trip was successful?"

Ruby nodded. "Indeed it was. I found the weapons and the pack of Beowolves that had ambushed the caravan." Ozpin placed his hand on Ruby's shoulder. "May I inquire as to why I was summoned so soon after returning?"

Ozpin walked over to one of the large windows placed in the walls of the hall. "Yes. I apologize for summoning you almost immediately upon your return, but as I instructed young Jaune here to say, it's urgent." Jaune in turn bowed and turned to leave. "Stay right there Jaune." The king's command made Jaune freeze. "This may yet concern you as well, so come and listen to an old king."

Ruby leaned up against the wall, facing Ozpin and Jaune standing next to her. Ozpin stared out of the window before beginning. "We've recently learned of a prophecy foretelling the fall of an ancient beast of terrible power. A creature so powerful, it's destruction can be seen today." He then turned to Ruby. "You've seen this creature before." Ruby's mind brought up that memory from ten years ago. The fires of the beast that destroyed her home.

"The Black Dragon"

Ozpin nodded his head. "Correct. The prophecy foretells that you, Ruby Rose, shall help slay the beast." He then turned to the solider, Jaune. "As shall you Jaune Arc."

The young solider looked at his king with surprise. "Me? What do I have to do with this?"

Even Ruby was curious of why he was part of this. She stood straight, no longer leaning against the wall. "You are going to help kill the dragon. It's as simple as that."

"My lord, I mean no disrespect to you, or this young man here, but his skills with a sword need much work."

"I understand that, which is why it's important that you oversee his training Ruby. With you teaching him, he will become a great warrior." Ruby just shook her head, then walked a few steps away from the window, stopping after a few steps to turn around.

"This isn't a mere Grimm, or any wild creature. This is the Black Dragon." She turned away from them. "A creature so dangerous, that armies would fall to it in a single breath. It destroys everything in its path, leaving nothing but ash and stone in its wake." She turned back to them and walked towards Ozpin, with a fire in each step. "A few improvements with a sword wont save him from getting himself killed." Had anyone else been in the hall with them, Ruby would have grasped their attention in a heartbeat.

"I understand that, which is why you are to search for others to join you in your quest. Individuals with exceptional abilities that are also mentioned in the prophecy that will fight alongside you."

"And I suppose you know who these people are, as well as where they are at?" Ozpin turned towards her, a sly smile gracing his lips.

"Of course, though not entirely. I know enough for you to get started." Ruby reluctantly followed Ozpin to a table on the side of the room. On it lay maps, an ancient tablet, and a slip of paper with a name on it. "The first thing you are going to need to do is recruit Pyrrha Nikos. She is a member of the Queen of Sanctum's Royal Guard, and a damn good combatant. Head to Sanctuary and pass this message to the queen, then do what you have to in order to recruit miss Nikos." Ozpin handed Ruby an encrypted Data Cache.

"Sanctuary is quite a distance, and who knows what we will find out there." Ruby stated.

"I understand, but I know that you wont fail Ruby. Good luck." Ozpin dismissed them.

Once RUby and Jaune had left the kings hall, Ruby turned to Jaune. "Pack lightly, we have a lot of ground to cover and we can't afford any delays." She was about to leave, but she turned back towards Jaune. "I would recommend not bringing all of that armor. It'll just slow you down."

Now she turned away and started to leave. "Wait where are we going to meet at before leaving?"

Ruby turned around and walked backwards, calling back to Jaune. "Two hours, at the main gate to the city." She turned back around and left in a hurry.

After a few minutes, Ruby entered her home, taking a moment to soak it in once more before setting out on a journey she knew would be long. There was a picture on the nightstand by her bead, a picture of when she was younger. She was standing in her old home next to her older sister, both of them with a smile on their faces. She took the picture out of the frame and placed it inside of her vest, keeping it close to her heart. Afterwards, she finished packing and went to the gate.

Much as she expected, Jaune had not arrived yet. Yet to her surprised, she didn't even have to wait. He showed up a minute after she did. He wore a hooded sweatshirt, with a chest-guard, shoulder-guards, elbow pads and bracers. His pants were a light tan colored pair of pants with combat boots. "Glad to see you took my advice."

Jaune just rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. "I guess I have a knack for being prepared huh."

Ruby laughed and shook her head. "Oh Jaune, preparation can only take you so far. Now come on." Ruby turned around and walked out the gate. "We got a long journey ahead of us, so let's not waste the light."

And so their journey began, the walk to Sanctuary would take several days, 12 by Ruby's estimation, and that was with fast uninterrupted travel. Since she was traveling with Jaune, who was inexperienced with things such as travel and survival, Ruby figured the trip would take about 20 days instead. From the beginning of their long hike, her estimations proved to be accurate as Jaune was already falling behind, making her slow down to allow him to catch up. Right off the bat, things were working against the young Huntress.

The two mostly stuck to the road, providing a clear cut direction to travel, only leaving the road to rest or set camp for the night. Jaune was getting easily tired from the journey, with Ruby only being tired of having to rest as often as they do. Ruby couldn't be mad at Jaune for not knowing what it took to go on a quest like this, but even she was feeling the frustration getting to her. So during the time that they took to rest, she would keep herself busy by practicing her fighting techniques, hunting wild game, or scouting ahead. Even with all of this, Jaune could tell that she was frustrated with their progress.

Five days into their journey, and they were nowhere near where Ruby hoped they would be, though by what Ruby originally figured, they were further along than that, showing that they were making some progress. The two had set up their camp for the night, finding refuge inside the belly of an old hollow tree. Ruby had managed to get a fire going outside and the two of them sat around the fire for the night, both of them feeling disheartened.

"Maybe I should have stayed home."

Ruby looked up from the fire to see Jaune letting his head hang low. They really didn't talk much to each other outside from small talk and the occasional advice from Ruby. "What makes you say that?"

Jaune was surprised that Ruby had heard him, shooting his head up in surprise when she asked her question, He sat there, fumbling for something to say, eventually giving up and just stating what was obvious. "I'm sorry, I just...I'm surprised you heard me say that." Ruby just shrugged.

"I could tell. It's all a part of what I was taught in learning the skills of the Huntsman." Jaune nodded and went back to this own thoughts. Ruby being as observant as she was noticed he still didn't answer her question. "You never answered by question."

That once again caught his attention. "Oh uh, what was the question again?"

Ruby smirked as she shook her head. "Why did you say that maybe you should have stayed home?"

Jaune felt frustrations pour out from him. "Because I keep slowing you down. All I've been good for so far is holding you back."

Ruby knew that her attitude hasn't been helpful to his morale either. "That's not entirely true." Jaune gave her a quizzical look. "Yeah, I figured that it would take us longer to get here than it did so far. Plus the amount of time you needed to rest has gone down as each day passes."

Jaune still shook his head, still feeling dismayed. "But we're still not where you would like us to be." Ruby stood up and moved closer to Jaune, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"While this is true, I realize that you still are inexperienced at this. By the time we reach Sanctuary, you will have improved your skills tremendously."

"I know, but it won't be good enough." His head hung again. "I'll never be as good as my father."

For the first time this entire quest, Ruby was confused. "What does your father have to do with your skill level exactly?"

"Everything."

The sudden outburst from Jaune was unexpected. "Look, I come from a long line of great and noble knights. The kind that you would hear about in tales of bravery." Jaune stood up and looked away from Ruby, taking a step away from her to give himself distance. "My father is the legendary White Knight of Vale. His father is the Spear of the King, and so on and so on." Ruby sat there and simply listened, knowing that sometimes that's all it took. "When I was younger, my father was expecting me to be as skilled as him, and when I wasn't, he was disappointed. Though he still cared about me, I knew that I failed him, just like I'm failing now."

Ruby started to laugh, causing Jaune to sulk even more. "I'm sorry, but the fact that you think you are failing now amazes me." Now it was Jaune's turn to feel confused. "If I had to say anything, I'd say you have done better than I expected you to. Just keep working an you'll get to where you want to be some day." Ruby could see the smile form on Jaune's face. "Now come on, let's get some sleep." Ruby dampened the fire so that it was less noticeable, then she proceeded into the tree with Jaune.

It was a tight fit and it meant that they would be getting a bit closer than Jaune felt comfortable with. "Um, you sure you don't want me to sleep outside?"

Ruby looked at Jaune and sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "If you're worried about that, I'll tell you right now, I don't swing that way. Now quit whining and get to sleep." Jaune had to think for a moment about what the young Huntress just said, eventually catching on and laying down in pure shock.


	2. The Mercenary

**AN: Not as long of a chapter as the last one, I know. I remember mentioning that chapter being two separate chapters being combined into one. Anyway, I wanted to say something different up here, but that would be spoilers, so I'll save it for next wee. Anyway, thanks for reading, plenty of love for this story even though it's only now into it's second chapter, (though my stories usually get people coming onto it at a slower pace, not that I mind it, at least you're enjoying it) and I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

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The morning had come quickly, the dew on the leaves creating a picture of beauty around the young Huntress and her equally young companion. Ruby awoke early, allowing her the opportunity to cook breakfast really quickly before Jaune awoke, so that they could be underway as soon as possible. After last nights conversation with the boy, she expected the day to go fairly well. Jaune woke up to the sweet smell of bacon and the pair quickly ate, then went on their way.

The early part of their day went smoothly, when suddenly out of the corner of her eye, Ruby noticed something in the bushes. She signaled to Jaune to wait there and stay out of sight while she took a look at what was going on. She quietly walked into the woods and noticed some men quickly moving through them to the other side of the trees. Ruby quietly followed them, coming upon the road and seeing two travelers walking along it, heading towards them. When she noticed that the men in the forest were armed and pulling out their weapons, she quickly realized what was happening. This was an ambush. Ruby leapt towards the ambushers, spinning in mid-air and pulling Crescent Rose off of her back. Her weapon in gun mode, she used her spinning momentum to fire three quick shots at the first of the men, alerting everyone to her presence.

The two travelers in the road heard the blasts, and the first started to panic. His companion was more alert than he was, calling for him to stay close behind her. She readied her weapons, just as she saw one of the ambushers get flung into the middle of the road in front of them. Not a moment later, she saw a woman leap at him wielding a scythe, swinging it above her head and slamming it down into the man. The momentum she carried allowed her to place herself sideways along the hilt of her weapon, her laying atop of it with her feet at the blunt end of the blade. The girl then fired her weapon somehow, and catapulted herself to the other side of the road, where the end of the hilt pierced another man, pinning him to a tree.

The travelers watched in awe as the young woman fought the ambushers, seeing her swing her body atop the hilt of her scythe, spinning around like a top and splitting her legs, which she used to kick two more of the attackers as they dropped down from a tree. The two of them then noticed a young man running through the woods towards them, but the woman with the scythe seemed to ignore him. She pulled her weapon from the tree and the body of the man she impaled earlier, then she used her weapon as a pole to launch her body towards one of the men she kicked, knocking him to the ground. The man who she left didn't last long, as the new arrival pulled out a sword and slashed the man's chest, then clumsily pierced the ambushers stomach with it. The woman with the scythe, after kicking the attacker onto his back, then brought the blunt end of her scythe down onto him, causing him to go unconscious.

The girl, after knocking her opponent out, looked over his now unconscious body, trying to identify the man, or simply loot the body, the female traveler couldn't tell. She saw the man who killed the other attacker rush to the scythe wielders side. He raised is sword to impale the body, but when he brought it down, the scythe wielder blocked the strike. The two travelers looked on, wondering if maybe he had killed her, but then she turned her head to him. They could barely make out what she said, but they heard her words. "We keep this one alive." This caused the sword wielder to back down. The scythe wielder then stood up and turned her attention to the two travelers.

Ruby looked at the pair of travelers that stood before her, an elder looking an, and a young woman. She noticed the woman looked to be armed, her arms covered in some kind of special gauntlets. So she kept Crescent Rouse out, holding it behind her back, ready to strike if she needed to do so. Ruby quickly scanned the two for details as to who they were. The man appeared to be a sort of business man, harmless to Ruby. The woman however, seemed to be the more dangerous of the two. The woman featured blonde unkempt hair, and she wore a brown jacket that cut off at her stomach. Around her neck was an orange scarf. Ever the eye for detail, Ruby saw the black shorts and brown pleated skirt that only went around her back, and went downward on only one side. Finally she noticed the knee high leather boots of the girl, with an orange band around her left leg.

From what she saw, she figured the woman to be impulsive, erratic, and not really any bit concerned over certain subjects that pertained to herself. Ruby decided maybe trying to talk to them, thinking that would be the best course of action, however the woman spoke up first and beat her to it. "If you're here to kill us, I'll tell you right now, I won't let that happen."

Ruby was about to retort, before Jaune cut her off. "Hey, we just saved you two. At least a thank you would be sufficient." Ruby couldn't help but shake her head a bit at that.

The other girl laughed at Jaune. "What did you do aside from kill one already stunned man, and in a pathetic manner might I add." Ruby could tell that Jaune didn't like that. He pulled out his sword like he was going to fight them, but Ruby wouldn't let him.

"Jaune." He looked at her, receiving a look that, if it were put into words, would have told him to calm down. "Why were these men trying to kill you" Ruby asked, returning her attention back to the two travelers.

"Why do you want to know?" The girl said to her.

Ruby couldn't help but feel like she knew this girl from somewhere, but for the life of her, she couldn't figure out where though. "Those men would have killed you if we hadn't interfered when we did. I think that constitutes a right to know."

The woman didn't lower her guard, but she did give in and explain the situation to them. "I was hired to protect this big important businessman, until his partners finish up some big business deal. The guys you killed are-well more like were now, a part of the White Fang. For whatever reason, they want this guy dead, and I'm not going to let that happen.

Ruby decided to lower her weapon, placing it back onto her waist. Seeing this, the woman lowered hers as well. Ruby walked up to them so that they didn't have to yell. "So you're a mercenary then?"

The woman still felt uneasy around them, but she was willing to talk. "Yeah, it's all I could do since my home was destroyed ten years ago."

When she heard that, the gears in Ruby's mind began turning, putting the pieces together of who this person was.

"So where do you go then while you are not on a job?" Jaune asked since Ruby was lost in her thoughts.

"I'm out looking for my little sister. People have said she made it out, but until I find her, I'll keep looking."

When the girl mentioned having a sister, Ruby finally realized who she was. "I don't want..." Ruby did know who she was. "...to go the rest of my life..." She had the same Lilac eyes as someone close to her. "...without seeing my..." This girl was Ruby's sister.

"Yang?"

That one word cause the girl to stop cold. Her expression changed, looking much more serious. "How did you know my name?" Ruby smiled knowing that her sister was standing in front of her for the first time in ten years. Before anyone could react, Ruby enveloped the girl in a hug that sent Yang staggering back a step.

"It's really you."

Yang was confused, not realizing what was going on. "Uh Ruby? What are you doing?" Jaune had asked the young Huntress.

Now it was Yang's turn to figure it all out. She looked at the girl who had just let go of her hug. "If your name is...and you know me...then..." Yang's face widened when she realized her sister was standing in front of her. "Oh my god, is it really...it's really...aagh." Yang couldn't help but yell her joys to the world. She pulled her sister back into a massive bear hug, nearly squeezing the life out of Ruby. Tears of joy were rolling down their faces, while Jaune and the business man looked on confused.

Once they had gotten themselves together, Ruby turned towards Jaune. "Jaune, this is Yang, my older sister." Jaune's mouth opened wide, him realizing now what had happened.

"Look I don't know about you, but I would rather not be killed by more White Fang goons. Yang, we still have someplace to be, now let's go already." The business man called out.

Yang suddenly remembered that she was still on a job. "Oh right. Look which way are you two heading?"

"We're supposed to be heading over to Sanctuary, but I suppose we could help you with your business first."

That brightened up Yang's face. "Awesome, we're actually heading in that direction anyway. I promise you Ruby, I'll tag along with you when we are done with this."

Now it was Ruby's turn to smile. "Lead the way sis." Turning down the road, the company began to walk to their destination.


	3. Catching Up Catching On

**AN: Long chapter this time around. So I was gonna say this last week but I didn't want to do any spoilers, so I'm saying it now. I don't think I write Yang that well. Personally in the first volume I haven't seen any character development for her, so I only see what is on the outside appearance of her character. So hopefully with Volume two they do some development for her and I can get a better understanding of how to write for her. Anyway I wrote this in because I didn't want to have every character be introduced in back to back to back chapters, so I'm throwing stuff in between to keep things interesting. Thanks for reading, reviewing and enjoying this story.**

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Yang and Ruby had a lot to catch up on. Ten years apart and they had so many stories to share with each other. "Wait a second there Ruby. You're telling me, that you're a Huntress?" Ruby nodded. "As in, travel the world fighting off the forces of darkness, defenders of the innocent Huntress?"

"Yep."

"And you're telling me, that you are the youngest and one of the most skilled out of them all?"

"You know it."

Yang swelled up with pride, wrapping her sister up in a bear hug. "I'm so proud of you!" Yang couldn't contain her excitement, nearly crushing Ruby in her giant body crushing hug.

"Yang, you're killing me." Yang let go of Ruby, allowing the young girl to catch her breath. "Jeez, I forgot how strong you are."

Yang sheepishly put her hand to the back of her neck. "Yeah, sometimes I end up forgetting myself."

Ruby just laughed. "I figured. hey remember that time where Toby Noromi pelted a snowball in my face?"

Yang started to laugh uncontrollably. "I remember alright. Jerk upset you, so I picked him up, and dropped him head first into a pile of snow."

Now they were both laughing. Jaune, who was walking a bit behind them, couldn't help but overhear their conversation, laughing as well. Ruby tried to pause her laughing to speak. "Yeah, remember how while he was in there, the only thing sticking out was his legs, and they were flailing all over the place?" Now Yang was in a fit of hysteria, keeling over laying on the ground, hardly able to breathe.

After a few moments, Yang stopped laughing and got a hold of herself. "Man, those were some good times huh?" Yang said once she caught her breath again.

"Yeah, they really were." Ruby finally got a hold of herself as well. "Now that I got you back, I feel like a kid again, running through the streets, playing with you and the other kids. It's great to have you back Yang."

Yang threw her arm around Ruby as they got back underway. "Don't worry, once we're done with this little pit stop, we'll have plenty of time to make up for what we missed."

Ruby put on a smile for her sister, but her mind went to what her task was asking her to do. She didn't know if she could ask her sister to come along if it meant there was a chance that she could be killed by the dragon. Just then, she felt her scroll go off. Someone was trying to get a hold of her. Rummaging through the pocket of her pack, she managed to pull it out to see who it was. His majesty, Lord Ozpin, was calling to check up on her progress no doubt.

"Looks important." Yang said to Ruby, who simply nodded. "Alright boys, break time. Get some water and a quick bite to eat." Yang had turned to Jaune and her client, who both sat down on the side of the road.

Ruby walked over to the other side and pressed the button on her scroll to answer Ozpin's call, which came up with a live video feed. "Ruby, how goes your journey so far?" Ruby was a little bit hesitant to explain how she had found her long lost sister and is traveling with her for a bit, which Ozpin noticed. "Ok Ruby, what happened that is causing you to be this way? What's delayed you?"

Ruby would never understand how Ozpin managed to know these things. "Our progress isn't what I was hoping it would be. Jaune's inexperience with travel has made things difficult so far. But from my initial expectations of him, he has done better than I thought he would."

Ozpin closed his eyes and nodded. "I was expecting this from him, but it sounds like things are going better than I thought too."

Ruby agreed, she didn't want to throw Jaune under the bus, so when she said he was improving, she meant it. Now the only issue involved her own sister. "There's one more thing I need to bring up sir." At this Ruby grabbed Ozpin's full attention. "Earlier today we encountered a White Fang ambush set for some travelers. I kept one of them alive and he is being sent back to you via remote carrier."

Ozpin nodded. "I'll have the guards prepare a cell immediately."

Ruby wasn't finished. "The two travelers we saved..." Ruby took a second to think of how to say it. "...one of them is a business man, and the other a mercenary acting as his bodyguard until some sort of contract is complete. The thing is..." Ruby couldn't figure out any fancy way to say it, so she just said it bluntly. "...the mercenary turns out, is my sister."

Ozpin seemed surprised at first. "The one you spent years looking for?" Ruby nodded. Suddenly Ozpin had an epiphany. He ran over to the table that had the ancient texts on them and searched through them. "A-ha!" He proclaimed, a smile peaked across his face. "Fortune smiles upon you Ruby." Ruby seemed curious as to what he meant by that. "The prophecy foretells of a mercenary, bound to the Huntress forged in blood and kinship. Ruby, your sister is a part of this." Ruby was surprised when she heard the news. "Whatever business she is a part of now, see that it is finished quickly and have her join you."

Ruby felt a bit nervous asking Yang to put herself in harms way on the slim chance that this prophecy could be true. Before she could respond to Lord Ozpin, he had ended the call, leaving Ruby conflicted on what she should do. Ruby walked back over to Yang and the two men, who were all ready to get underway. "Ya know, you should get some food into your system Ruby." Ruby started to feel upset that her sister thought she knew what was best for her. Though she quickly buried the though, realizing that it was her sister, who was just looking out for her.

"I'm fine Yang. I've been trained to survive on the bare minimum. I appreciate the concern, but you don't need to worry about me."

Yang seemed struck back by that. "Hey, I'm just being your sister, you know that right?"

Ruby sighed. "I know, I just got a lot on my mind right now."

Yang came up to her, looking at Jaune and giving him a 'give us a minute' look. She put her arm around Ruby's shoulders. "Does it have something to do with that phone call?"

Ruby knew that this wasn't going to be easy for her. "Yeah. Look, I got to explain something to you first." Ruby took a deep breath as Yang walked with her, listening closely. "My mission is really dangerous and there's a lot to it. Apparently I'm part of some sort of prophecy thing that talks about killing the Black Dragon. And I just found out that you're in it too."

Yang looked at Ruby for a second, seemingly having understood that all. "Ok."

It was all that Yang said, but it was enough to confuse Ruby. "Wait what?"

"I'll do it."

Now Ruby pushed Yang's arm off of her shoulder. "Look Yang, I don't want you getting killed over this. I just got you back, and I don't want to lose you again."

At this point, everyone stopped walking, and Ruby and Yang's conversation could be heard by Jaune and the businessman. "Well, then why did you join up with the Huntsman? You had to have known that in that line of work that you could die at any point. How do you think I feel about that."

Ruby looked down at the ground. "Yang, I..."

Yang walked over to her and lifted her head up. "I'd rather you and I be fighting side by side. And if we should in that quest, then we should die together, fighting side by side to the end." Ruby took a deep breath and then nodded. "Once I'm done with this contract, I'll join you, I promise." Yang pulled Ruby into a hug, and in turn, Ruby returned the hug in earnest.

Back behind Jaune, where no one could see him, the businessman checked his phone. He looked at the message that read, 'Contract Finalized, You are no longer a target.' The only problem, was that he didn't want to pay Yang for her services, and he liked the though of having his own personal bodyguard, so he didn't want to give that up.

"Yo." The businessman looked up to see Yang call him. "How's that contract coming?"

Yang was eager to leave, yet when she did, the man knew that she would be leaving with the Huntress as well, which was another person who he didn't want to see go. "Er, not yet. The negotiations are taking a lot longer than expected." Yang sighed, turning back down the road and continuing along her way with Ruby and Jaune in tow. The businessman let a quick grin cross his face, which Ruby subtly noticed out of the corner of her eye.

Ruby walked up to Yang, getting so close that only she could hear. "Do you know the details of what this contract is about? Like who's involved, what it's discussing, things like that."

Yang pulled out a piece of paper from the inside of her shirt, and handed it to Ruby. "Everything ok sis?"

Ruby was focused on scanning the page with her scroll so she could quickly copy the details without alerting anyone. "Oh, yeah. I just wanted to know what's going on with this thing in case I can help." She didn't give Yang time to respond, instead turning back to Jaune and the Businessman. "I'm going to scout ahead for a bit. Try to stay out of trouble without me ok?" And she was off with a bolt.

Once Ruby felt she was far enough ahead, she pulled out her scroll, looking through her contacts. "No, no, no, there we go!" Ruby was being a bit impatient, time wasn't on her side at the moment. once she saw the video feed come up, she burst into what she needed right away. "Velvet, I need to ask a favor of you. See I got this-"

"Ok ok, slow down for a second." The other end was a rabbit eared faunus that Ruby had trained alongside while going through the process of becoming a member of the Huntsman. After Ruby took a deep breath, her friend spoke again. "Better. Now, start from the top and take it more slowly ok?"

Ruby looked back trying to see if her companions were nearby or not. "Ok, look I need to be quick about this, but I got a businessman who needs to be protected until a contract is completed. Only thing is, I think he is lying to me and the people I'm traveling with. So I'm sending you a file with the details of said contract now."

Velvet looked at the corner of her scroll, seeing that she got said message from Ruby just now. "Ok, I got it. Now what exactly do you want me to do with it?"

Ruby heard Yang getting closer. "Keep me updated on it's progress, and let me know the second it's finished."

The girl on the other end nodded. "Ok, it may take a bit to get to you at first, but I'll keep you posted." Ruby was about to go when Velvet went on. "Oh and Ruby..." Ruby seemed confused for a second. "...now we're even." Velvet smiled at Ruby, and Ruby nodded back, ending the call.

Ruby made her way back to the others, glad that she was able to accomplish her task of getting to the truth. "Nothing up ahead, road seems pretty clear."

Jaune was happy to hear that. "Good. So um, how much further till we get to where we're going?" Jaune asked.

"It's not much further, maybe a mile or two to go." Ruby Yang and Jaune seemed pleased with that, their side quest was almost over and they could get some rest for a little bit, before continuing on to Sanctuary. After another few minutes of traveling, they arrived at a small village near the border of Sanctum. Ruby seemed to be preoccupied with something, so Yang took charge.

"Ok, let's get down there, and you can finish up that contract!" The businessman didn't seem to be in any hurry, dragging out everything, which only enforced Ruby's earlier concerns. Once they had arrived, Yang, Ruby and Jaune changed into something relaxed until their current outfits were cleaned. They each took turns taking a shower and waiting to be done with the task at hand.

Ruby still felt preoccupied, so she didn't have much to say for conversation. Yang was being impatient and eager to leave and go on her way with Ruby, while Jaune just sat there, quietly blending into the background. "jeez, how long should this take? I though you said it would be done by now."

The businessman still didn't want to be done, so he kept stalling. "I told you already, the negotiations are taking a lot longer than we expected."

Ruby felt a vibration in her pocket. She was getting a call from Velvet, so she set it to audio only so no one could butt in. "Yeah?" Jaune was the only one who noticed her get the call in the first place, since Yang was arguing with the man.

"Ruby, the contract you had me look into, it was finalized before you even called me." Ruby's face suddenly changed, she became more serious and knew what this was all about. "If your businessman didn't tell you about it, then he definitely wouldn't at this point."

"Thanks Velvet, I really appreciate the help." Ruby ended the call and walked over to the businessman, ready for a confrontation.

"There's no way to speed things up. It takes time to-"

Ruby interrupted in haste. "You lied to us." Ruby grabbed the man's shirt, pulled him out of the chair and pushed him up against the wall.

"Ruby! What are you doing?!" Yang cried out.

"He lied to us Yang." Turning her attention back to her captive, she saw his expression change. "The contracts already done, and he knew about it and didn't tell us."

Now Yang was starting to get mad, her eyes changing from Lilac to Red. "Is this true?"

The businessman practically crapped himself when he had been found out. "Ok ok, yes it's finished. Yang your services are no longer needed, and you can leave now."

Ruby still didn't let go. "You still owe her payment."

Now the man wasn't happy himself. "Now wait just a minute. You're a Huntress, not a damn extortionist. You of all people should see that I'm threatened by this mad crazy woman's presence. Aren't you going to keep her away from me?"

Ruby smirked. "True, I'm supposed to uphold the law. However, you did sign a contract if I'm right. So technically, you're legally bound to pay Yang. Right now, all I'm doing is upholding the law."

The man defeated, paid Yang for her services. once that was done, the three decided to leave early so that they could get a head start on their trip to Sanctuatry. "So Ruby, how did you know he was lying?" Jaune was curious about all that had just happened a few moments ago.

"Yeah, that was really awesome n' all, but I'm wondering myself what happened." Yang stated as well.

"Well, when I went to scout ahead, I asked a friend of mine to look into it for me. Turns out that the contract was done minutes before I called her."

Yang looked impressed again. "Damn, Ruby got some connections. Hey you think you could help me pay off a bar tab?"

Ruby just laughed as she started to walk onward. "Come on, we're not gonna get to Sanctuary just standing around here."


	4. The Sentinel

**AN: So this is a pretty long chapter. I hope I write fighting scenes well. Also if anyone can tell what I'm basing the city of Batalia upon, then you guys are nerds and you are my people. Hope you enjoy the chapter, and as always read, review, enjoy, and thanks.**

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The road to Sanctuary was relatively clear for Ruby, Yang and Jaune. Aside from a very brief encounter with a pair of Ursai, they encountered no delays ore resistance the rest of the way. It took them another week and a half to make it to Sanctuary, but alas, they made it, and they could rest easy knowing that their first part in the journey was finished. "So how much further is it exactly?" Jaune asked his fearless leader.

Satisfaction rose from Ruby's face, the thought of being so close was marvelous. "Not much further, maybe another hour at this rate. You getting tired back there?"

"Surprisingly not tired at all actually. Maybe I've just gotten used to this."

Ruby smiled, he was actually making good progress, thinking that maybe he could be made into a fine solider after all. "Good, keeping up your endurance is one of the most important aspects of being a warrior Jaune. If you think of it, what good is a solider who can't fight through the entire battle."

Ruby managed to boost Jaune's confidence with that. "Thanks. So if you don't mind me asking, how do you know how far we are from Sanctuary?"

Ruby looked back at Jaune, who was still jogging close behind, with Yang pulling up the rear. "I've been there before." She decided to stop so that they could get some energy before pushing through the last stretch. "Let's take a break real quick, get some energy for the last leg ok?" They all sat down and began to get some water and food into their system

"So you've really been to Sanctuary before? That's really cool." Jaune stated. Though his skills were improving, he still acted like a kid sometimes, but Ruby wasn't going to say anything about that because she was guilty of that from time to time as well.

"Yeah, I guess so, though I've been all over the world. Atlas, Menagerie, Isen, Sanctuary, even some of the smaller realms, I've been there." Ruby shrugged, used to the idea of travel, never staying at her home in Vale for more than a few days at a time.

"Ok so you must have some sort of really awesome stories to tell. Am I right?" Yang spoke up now.

Ruby thought back for a second, then she knew what to say. "Ok, I got one for you. You guys know of the city of Batalia?" Yang nodded, though Jaune shook his head. "Ok Jaune, Batalia is a city in Sanctum known for being an almost impenetrable fortress. No army has ever been able to conquer the stronghold. It's built into the mounted, surrounded on three sides by a steep rocky slope that's impossible to navigate. The fourth side has a large wall that was built to block all unwanted entry, and the only way to get into the city, is go through the Iron Pass, which is a long ramp that leads up to the main gate. The thing with that is, it's easy to defend if you're in the city, and it's why the city is almost impenetrable."

"Wow, that's really cool." Jaune said.

"Yeah, though I heard that the city was almost taken two years ago by the Grimm." Yang said, which Ruby was glad that she brought up that point.

"True, I was there, and the fighting was intense that day." Yang's jaw dropped, she didn't expect to hear that Ruby was there at the battle. "Yeah, I had just become a Huntress and I was unproven. I was there to deliver a message to the man in charge of the city from the Queen, but while I was there the city was attacked. The Grimm were pushing through the battlefield with relative ease, but they still couldn't get over the wall. The only problem is that they stormed the Iron Pass en mass, and came close to breaking through the doors. Eventually, I went and leapt onto the pass, and from there I simply stood there and prevented anything from getting by me. I was the last line of defense before the doors, and I stood tall and strong." Both Yang and Jaune seemed to be in awe of the tale. Ruby stood up and threw her stuff into her bag, getting ready to lead out again. "Anyway, we've rested enough, and we still have to get to Sanctuary."

They packed up and made their way through the rest of the trip with ease. "Sanctuary is just beyond this hill." Ruby shouted back to Yang and Jaune. She ran all the way up to the top, but when she got there, her face drew a frightened expression. Yang and Jaune soon made their way up to the top after her, and once they got up there, they saw what Ruby saw.

Sanctuary was under siege.

"Oh god." Jaune said first.

Ruby was never expecting this to happen. She saw the field before Sanctuary's gates, the battle that was taking place right in front of them. Ruby quickly regained her composure, and charged down into the field. She unfolded Crescent Rose as she ran down to join the battle. Yang activated her gauntlets, Ember Celica, and she followed suit. Jaune realizing he needed to help too, pulled out his sword Crocea Mors and activated his shield, then followed Ruby and Yang down into the battle.

Ruby pointed Crescent Rose behind her, then fired off a shot that propelled her forward. Once she launched herself forward, she twisted her body around like a top. Her blade swung around her and she cut through many of the invading creatures. She realized that they were the creatures of Grimm, mainly Beowolves, and a few Ursai. She kept her momentum going, the biggest key to her fighting style, and kept her scythe spinning around and around like a never ending wheel. Once of the soldiers took notice of Ruby, Yang and Jaune, and called out to his fellow soldiers. "Reinforcements! We have reinforcements on our side!" Upon hearing this, the soldiers fought harder against the invading Grimm.

Yang dove head first into the fight, using her gauntlets, she started to punch everything in sight. When she punched, she unleashed a shotgun like blast from her weapons to add to the power of her strikes. She was killing everything in sight. Before she knew it though, she ran out of ammo and needed to refill. She grabbed two ammo belts out of her belt, and threw them into the air. Then she jumped up, popping the empty shells out, while using the head of a beowolf to launch herself into the air towards the ammo belts she threw. As she reached them, she swung her arms at them, catching them in her gauntlets. Re-cocking her gauntlets while still in mid air, she fired two at the ground where she was going to land. Instead of her usual shotgun bursts, she was launching missile like projectiles that blew apart the Grimm in front of her.

Jaune was fairing as well as he could be. He was managing to stay alive, which was right now his top priority, and he even managed to kill a small number of Grimm in the process. Not nearly as many as Ruby or Yang, but enough for him to be satisfied with himself none the less. During his fighting, he looked over and saw a woman standing tall against the enemy Grimm, she looked like one of the soldiers from the fort, yet she fought with such grace and skill that she was more powerful than any of the other soldiers. However he believed that even she was getting outnumbered, and so he stepped in to help.

The soldier stood tall against the Grimm, her shield and sword being put to the test. One look at her, and you could feel the confidence oozing from her very presence. Her emerald eyes filled with focus and her scarlet hair waving in the breeze behind her. One of the beowolves swiped at her, but it was blocked by her shield. She jabbed the beast with her sword, spinning around to bash another beowolf with her shield. Switching her sword to a rifle, she quickly shot at the stunned beowolf before shooting two more beasts. As the beasts fell, she swung her shield at another beowolf, decapitating it in one strike. In the process, she failed to notice another beowolf leaping at her. When she took notice, it was too late, the beast was impaled in the stomach, by the sword of a man she had never seen before. "Look don't be scared, I'm here to help."

"I can see that. More are coming." The soldier said.

Jaune barely had time to dodge the claw that swung at him, causing him to fall to the ground. He swung his sword from the ground, slicing the beasts stomach. He stood up as quick as he could. "Yeah, just so you know, I'm not used to doing this kinda thing."

The soldier Jaune fought alongside took note, standing behind him. "Stay with me then." Standing back to back, they defended each other through many enemies. Eventually it was too much, and they all had to fall back into the walls of the city. The soldier Jaune stood by called out to her fellow soldiers. "Fall back! Fall back! Everyone fall back behind the walls!"

The soldier led Jaune back through the field to the walls of the city, trying to take down a few Grimm as they ran their way back. When they arrived, Ruby stood in front of the gate, blocking the Grimm from entering the walls. "Everyone get inside, I'll cover you.!" Ruby exclaimed. Yang ran up to her, trying to fight alongside her sister, but Ruby just gave her a quick glance. Yang took note that she needed to get back inside too, and so she retreated inside the walls with Jaune and the rest of the soldiers.

Once everyone was inside the walls, she ordered the gates be closed. There wasn't really too any Grimm left, but it was plenty enough for there to be many more casualties if they stayed out there, so she decided to eliminate them herself. She let the clip in Crescent Rose fall out of place, replacing it with another one bearing a cross like symbol on it. Once it was in place, she set Crescent Rose so that it was facing behind her. She shot forward at incredible speeds. Yang had jumped up to the top of the walls so she could see what was going on, her eyes filled with amazement when she saw what Ruby was capable of. Ruby was moving at speeds that almost no one could track. Her blade spinning around faster and faster as she moved, she was nothing more than a blur to even the most trained eyes. Soon only a few Grimm remained. She twirled Crescent Rose around her side, cutting down the last of the Grim, then firing off a shot that sent her flying backwards towards the gate.

At the end of the battle, the soldiers on top of the wall who witnessed the feat of incredible skill from Ruby cheered. They called for the gate to be opened, and she be let in. Ruby was enveloped in a bear hug from Yang, who was proud of her little sister. Jaune and the soldier from earlier, greeted them at the gate. "For someone so young you fight with incredible skill, though that was incredibly risky what you did out there."

The soldier was right in that, which Ruby realized, she did take an incredible risk with her actions, but that's what she was trained to do. "With all due respect to you and your men, my actions did save the lives of many of these fine soldiers here."

"I realize that, and for that I'm grateful, but I'm still saying that was risky though. Now, what brings you to Sanctuary?"

"I need to speak with the Queen. Lord Ozpin asked me to deliver a package, and there is also an urgent matter that needs to be brought to her attention." Ruby decided to play close to the vest so that she wouldn't have anyone overhear her.

"Follow me then." The soldier lead them into further into the city. "I apologize if I sound a bit, temperamental. We've been having to fight off the Grimm for a while now, and it hasn't been easy. Many soldiers lost their lives and the battle has taken it's toll on everyone."

Yang and Jaune weren't really paying attention to the conversation in front of them, amazed by the beauty of Sanctuary instead. Ruby, who had seen it's beauty before, was able to focus on what needed to be done. "What do you mean?"

"We've been having trouble with a nearby Grimm Breeding Ground not far away from the city." That got Yang and Jaune's attention. "They've been sending wave after wave of Grimm towards us many times within the past few weeks, this last time being the worst of it all." The soldier stood still for a second, looking down at the ground. "We wouldn't have survived if you hadn't shown up when you did." She started to move again, leading them right up to the Queens court. The doors opened to them and the soldier led them inside, walking up to the throne of the queen, drawing the attention of everyone in the room, and kneeling to her queen.

"What news from the battlefield?" The queen spoke.

"We managed to hold the line against the Grimm, but we have been dealt a heavy blow." She turned to bring light to Ruby and her companions. "These three come from the Kingdom of Vale, and they have a message from Lord Ozpin. When they arrived they assisted us in fighting off the Grimm, and managed to help us hold them back." She now turned to Ruby, Ruby pulled out the data file but the soldier stood in her way. "Hand me the package for the queen." She tried to sound unoffensive, but Ruby wouldn't hand it over.

"Forgive the offense, but I'm under very strict orders to hand deliver this to the queen and only the queen." Ruby said. The soldier looked over to her queen for a response.

"It's alright, I know who this person is, so allow Miss Rose to pass, so she may complete her task." Upon this, the soldier stood off to the side, allowing Ruby to pass through. As Ruby handed her the file from Ozpin, she bowed down out of respect. "As respectful as always Ruby, and as skilled too. I heard that you stood alone at the gates of the city, fending off the Grimm single handedly in the end." Ruby smiled and rubbed the back of her neck. "Then again, feats like that are almost expected from a member of the Huntsman."

When she heard this, the soldier was surprised. She finally realized where Ruby had learned that incredible skill of hers. Ruby however, went on to her next topic. "There is another matter which requires your attention my Lord. I am in search of someone from within the Royal Guard, specifically Pyrrha Nikos." The queen looked over at the soldier upon hearing the name, and the soldier stepped forward.

Ruby looked over to see her step forward, right before she spoke. "If it is Pyrrha Nikos you seek, then look no further." She said, revealing herself to be the one person Ruby was to look for.

Ruby smiled upon hearing the news. "Well that was easy." She said in a humorous tone, before her demeanor became more serious again. "I need to speak to you, and to Queen Glynda, about the true reason why I am here." The queen gestured over to a table in the far corner of the room, away from uncovered ears, allowing Ruby, Jaune, Yang, Pyrrha, and the queen to speak calmly.

"Lord Ozpin recently uncovered some kind of prophecy, one that talks about the death of the Black Dragon."

This news gave the queen a disastrous look. "The beast hasn't been seen since the destruction of Daggerhorn. You believe this prophecy is true? Because if you do, then it may mean that the beast will return soon." The queen said.

"Yes this is true, but if it is, then that means that the Dragon will die." That still didn't put the queen at ease. "There is one other thing. In the prophecy, it speaks of nine who would all unite from all across the lands to take the beast down. I'm to find them and convince them to help." Now Ruby turned to face Pyrrha. "Which leads me to why I'm really here, to ask you, Pyrrha Nikos, to join us."

Pyrrha was shocked by the recent developments, but one thing stood in her mind. "I cannot. Not while my home still lies in danger."

The queen interjected. "Pyrrha, you must go with them. This quest is too important to turn your back on."

Pyrrha stood up next to the table. "I will not leave until I know that my home is safe."

"There is a way that we all get what we want." Both Pyrrha and the queen looked at Ruby, who seemed to have some sort of idea. "Pyrrha, you mentioned a Grimm Breeding Ground not that far away, and that it was the reason that this city is in danger right?" Pyrrha simply nodded. "What would happen if say, you and I were to destroy the place?" Pyrrha looked out the window for a few seconds, before giving her an answer.

"If it were to be destroyed, then I would gladly join you, since them my home would be safe from harm." Pyrrha gave Ruby a smile. "Oh and I'm sorry for not catching your names earlier."

"I'm Ruby Rose, this is my sister Yang, and this young man is Jaune Arc."

Pyrrha nodded. "I suggest we leave tomorrow, it's almost dark and the night would hinder us." She turned to walk away, before stopping next to Jaune. "You fought bravely today Jaune." Then she turned to walk away. "I suggest you rest up while you can. Tomorrow looks to bring trouble again."


	5. Into the Hornets Nest

**AN: Thanks to everyone that has been enjoying the story so far. I realize that when I'm given enough time to work on something I can really push out a lot of content for you guys. I will give you a hint as to next weeks chapter. It's going to involve Ruby and company learning of what their next task is, as some other factors come into play. Thanks for reading, review if you have any criticism for me, and as always, I hope you enjoy the chapter.**

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Ruby waited for Pyrrha by the gates to Sanctuary. The two of them had a Grimm Breeding Ground to destroy. Ruby had asked Yang and Jaune to stay behind in case the Grimm decided to attack the city again. Yang and Ruby made sure that they could get a hold of each other should something arise on one end, so that the other would know about it. As she stood by the gate, Ruby realized that she was once again, working with an unknown factor. While Pyrrha appeared to be a battle tested warrior, Ruby still didn't understand the level of skill she had overall.

On one end, there was Ruby. She has fought in sieges, against armies with very low chance, yet she comes out on top almost all the time. She is used to working alone or in very limited parties, with there never being more than 3 or 4 people at a time with her, at least before this journey. She never really had to put much faith in the skill of others, relying on herself most of the time. On the other end, stood Pyrrha. While she has fought in many battles and sieges before, she has always fought alongside an army. She has learned to rely on the people she was fighting alongside to watcher back. As a result she has to always be aware of the people around her, for if things seemed grim, she had to make a tough call. Either she keep fighting and risk the lives of her soldiers, or she retreat in order to save those under her command.

Ruby realized at least one thing from this. They were clearly opposites when it came to how they went about the battlefield, but what Ruby didn't know, or what she wasn't used to, she could pick up from Pyrrha who was used to it. It was a strange learning opportunity for Ruby, which she looked forward to in a strange way.

Ruby didn't have to wait much longer for Pyrrha to arrive. Pyrrha was adorned in less armor than what she was in the day before, but she was till heavily armored by Ruby's standards. "How far is it to these breeding grounds?" Ruby asked.

Once Pyrrha made it to Ruby, she kept on walking, with Ruby moving right next to her. "They aren't that far away, just a couple of miles up to the north." Pyrrha's face went somber. "It took the army two hours to march up there before." They were outside the city now, walking past the soldiers who were out retrieving the bodies of the dead so they may be given a proper burial. "I don't see how the two of us could do what an entire army couldn't. No disrespect intended, but the size of this thing is too much for the two of us alone to handle."

Ruby sensed the doubt in Pyrrha's voice, remembering that she was used to fighting with an army. While she could see what Pyrrha was saying, she didn't think that would be the case with them. "An army would force me to hold back for their sake. Besides the number of these things should be somewhat small. They sent an army from their camp to here, which was stopped." Ruby was thinking things through, calculating the numbers in her head. "Odds are they will try it again, which gives us an opportunity to hit them while they are occupied with other matters." She turned her head to Pyrrha. "It all comes down to ruthless calculus."

It upset Pyrrha that Ruby would suggest that they would attack again. "So you expect them to attack Sanctuary again?" Pyrrha had stopped walking, forcing Ruby to stop as well.

Ruby sighed. "Yes, I do expect it. They can smell the blood in the water and will probably try to strike, thinking that your people are vulnerable. Which as you and I know, isn't exactly the case."

Pyrrha walked up to Ruby, getting pretty close to her face. "Then we should go back and defend the city. The breeding ground's aren't going anywhere."

Ruby shook her head. "Unfortunately, that would give the Grimm the time they would need to regroup after the battle, and we would be in a weaker position and unable to mount a counter attack." Ruby started to walk again, still facing Pyrrha. "Your people will be fine Pyrrha. Now if you want to help them so badly, then take me to the breeding grounds so that we can stop the attacks."

Pyrrha closed her eyes, hoping that Ruby knew what she was doing, before she caught up to the young Huntress. "I still don't like the idea of just leaving my men like this. If we do see the Grimm heading towards the city, there may not be a chance to warn them."

As they were still walking, Ruby pulled out her scroll. "I can use this to contact Yang. It's heavily advanced so that no matter what, a signal will always get through. If anything comes up, then we can easily let them know what's going on." Ruby put her scroll away and put on a smile. "Trust me, I've thought this out all night."

Pyrrha had to admit that Ruby's plan was well thought out, and it covered a variety of scenarios. She also noticed that since it was just the two of them, then she could focus all of her energy into her combat without having to worry about losing any of the soldiers that were placed under her command. Pyrrha finally saw just one of the many reasons as to why Ruby was a Huntress.

Ruby and Pyrrha picked up the pace, attempting to shorten the time it would take to get over to the breeding grounds. The journey went well for quite a while, then as they were about halfway there, they ran into trouble. Ruby saw the beginning of an army of Grimm. "Quick Hide." She quietly called to Pyrrha, and they retreated into the edge of a nearby forest. Once there Ruby took note of the amount of Grimm that were passing them. Once they had all made their way past them, Ruby pulled out her scroll to call Yang and warn her.

"Yo" Yang said from the other end once she picked up.

"Yang, it looks like I was right, the Grimm are moving towards the city again." Before Ruby could continue, Yang shouted something.

"Hey Jaune, I win so pay up."

Ruby was a bit shocked. "Wait, were you betting on that? Seriously?" Yang didn't say anything, just laughing a little bit. "Ugh, look If you're done gambling on me then you should alert the queen about this. Tell her there are about 700 Grimm strong heading your way."

"That's a lot less than you thought it'd be Ruby."

Ruby nodded. "I figure they're holding some back to defend their territory, or to use as reinforcements."

"Either way, good luck sis." Yang said as she hung up, allowing Ruby and Pyrrha to continue.

"At least they will know what's coming." Pyrrha said.

"If it makes you feel any better, their numbers weren't as high as I thought they would be." Ruby stated.

"But as you also said, it means that there may be plenty at the grounds defending their home. Either way, it makes our job harder, and if they try to run as reinforcements, then we need to warn my people." Ruby nodded at this and they continued onward. Not much time later, they arrived at the location of the breeding grounds. As Ruby thought, the Grimm had held some of their forces back to protect their territory. Ruby noted that even though they were soulless beasts, they still had some basic animal instincts. "Almost two hundred men and women fell trying to destroy this accursed place." Pyrrha said, her face growing more disheartened again. "I still don't see how the two of us will fare any better than they did."

Ruby patted Pyrrha on the back. "Its never easy, losing that many people. If it makes you feel better, I know what it's like to see such unrelenting destruction and death." Ruby closed her eyes. She thought of her old home, the destruction that was brought upon it by the dragon. Even many years later, the memory was still as vivid as it was the day that it had happened.

"Is that why you decided to join the Huntsman?" Pyrrha had asked, knocking Ruby out of her thoughts before she went into that memory again.

"One of the reasons yes."

Pyrrha looked down. "It's never easy is it?" Ruby just nodded. Pyrrha was finally starting to understand Ruby. She saw a person who saw death and destruction in her past, who was now trying to correct the wrongs in this world. Ruby had seen much pain in her life, and yet here she was standing tall amongst it all. Pyrrha knew that she was wrong for doubting Ruby. She realized that Ruby wouldn't have done this if it didn't carry some great benefit to humanity. "I'd like to apologize to you." Ruby gave Pyrrha a confused look. "I doubted you when you were only trying to do what was best for my own people. My actions were not normal for me and for that I owe you an apology."

Ruby chuckled. "No apology necessary. I know you were just looking out for your home. If anything, I think we just got off on the wrong foot so to speak. Why don't we try it again?" Ruby held out her hand as a peace offering, to which Pyrrha quickly accepted.

"Of course." Pyrrha turned her attention back to the breeding grounds. "Now, how do we bring this place down." Back to the task at hand. Before them lay the entrance to a cavern, which was guarder by a few beowolves. Once they were killed though, the whole nest would know of their presence.

Ruby took the satchel she had been carrying with her off of her shoulder and opened it up. She pulled out one of four devices from the bag. "Ok, these are incendiary charges, which I managed to cook up last night. Once we get inside, we need to place these three charges at key locations inside the cavern. Lastly, I have this demo charge that I'll put up on the roof to collapse the cave." She pulled out the one charge that looked different than the others and gave it to Pyrrha so that she could get a better look at it. "While I'm arming that last charge, you get out of the cave cause this runs off of a timer once I activate it. I'm faster than you are, so the time it takes for me to get this thing installed should give you plenty of time to get out of there."

Pyrrha nodded. "If you give me the charges, I think that would work out the best. The numbers that are in there would suit your fighting style better than my own."

Ruby handed the charges off to Pyrrha, aware that her suggestion was pretty smart. She did a quick demonstration of how to set the charges, before they took up positions closer to the front of the caverns mouth. Ruby unfolded Crescent Rose into it's scythe mode, and she fired a shot that propelled her towards the few beowolves that guarded the entrance. She took one swing of her weapon and was able to cut down all of the beasts before her. Pyrrha brought out Milo and Akouo, her shield and sword, and ran up to Ruby, where they entered the cavern. Once they got there, they saw that the number of Grimm was small. Ruby smiled, realizing that the beowolves were in even fewer number than they thought. "Looks like we're lucky." Ruby said.

"I guess this is just another example of ruthless calculus huh?" Pyrrha stated.

Ruby took a quick glance to see where to place the charges, before she prepared to charge. "Stay behind me, I'll cut us a path." Ruby and Pyrrha took off. Ruby was cutting the Grimm down, slowly but surely. Pyrrha stayed behind her to avoid becoming a casualty herself, covering the rear of Ruby so that she wasn't jumped by any Grimm from behind. A beowolf came at Ruby from behind, only to be cut down by the Huntress, who swung her scythe around, stopping it behind her back, the she brought it back around to cut down three more Grimm. As they approached the first point, Ruby gestured to Pyrrha to place the charge. Pyrrha got to work, setting the mechanics of the charge to allow it to be armed against the point that Ruby had chosen. Once the charge was set, Ruby and Pyrrha took off again, working to place the second and third charges as well. Once the last charge was placed, all that remained was the charge at the top of the cavern.

"Pyrrha, toss me the last charge." Pyrrha threw Ruby the charge as she started to make her way towards the exit. Once Ruby caught the charge, she felt herself flying up to the cavern roof, when she didn't even do anything to propel herself upward. Once she looked down, she saw that it was Pyrrha who was bringing her towards the ceiling. The hilt of Crescent Rose struck the ceiling and stuck itself in there enough for Ruby to stand on the blade of her scythe freely, giving her ample room to work with. Ruby quickly placed the charge, thankful that she got to do it with both of her hands. Once she was set, Pyrrha, who was standing by the entrance to the cave fighting off a few Grimm, helped pull Ruby's scythe out from the ceiling. Ruby then used her weapon to launch herself to the entrance, where they two of them escaped just before the charges went off, engulfing the cave in a fiery explosion. Ruby looked back at what was left of the cave entrance, which was completely blocked off.

"Well that was easy." Pyrrha stated.

"I'll say. How did you do that thing that you did?" Ruby was referring to when Pyrrha lifted Ruby to the ceiling.

"It's my semblance. It's called Polarity. I can control the magnetic flow of an object. In the case of your scythe, I simply changed part of the magnetic flow of part of the hilt to allow me to lift you into the air, and then pull you back down when you were finished."

Ruby looked to be impressed. "Wow, that must come in hand a lot."

Pyrrha rubbed the back of her neck and smiled. "Here and there yes, but this time was probably the most useful it's been." She had plenty of skills to use, and yet she still managed to stay humble.

"I'm sure there will be plenty more work to do. Come on, let's get back to Sanctuary." Ruby stated as they two of them started to trek back to the city. With speed they quickly made their way back to Sanctuary, no reason to stop until they got there. Once they had arrived, the battle was almost over, most of the Grimm destroyed. Ruby noticed Yang standing over the gate firing missiles at everything. Ruby brought out Crescent Rose in sniper mode, with Pyrrha following suit and switching Milo into its rifle formation. Together the two of them picked off the remaining Grimm, ending the battle quickly. As they walked into the city triumphantly, they were greeted with a thunderous applause.

That night, the queen held a memorial ceremony for those that died in the fighting. "Tonight, we honor those, who gave their blood, to defend this country." She raised her glass. "Hail the victorious dead."

"Hail!" The people in the queens hall responded.

As the night went on, the mood became more cheerful and festive. Almost everyone was drinking save for a few people. Ruby, being one of the ones not drinking too much, looked out into the crowd. She saw her sister Yang involved in a drinking game, and Jaune listening to tales from some of the other soldiers. As she was admiring the atmosphere around her, Pyrrha decided to approach her. She noticed that even Pyrrha was finally relaxed, wearing more comfortable clothing and taking the time to find some comfort in the night. "You know you are probably gonna run out of whiskey by the end of the night, at least at the rate my sister is going."

Pyrrha laughed at Ruby's observation, hearing Yang shouting out victorious slurs as she won yet another drinking contest. "I wouldn't be surprised." Pyrrha paused to take a swig of her drink. "I need to thank you by the way." Ruby was about to take a sip of her drink before she paused to hear Pyrrha out. "You saved my home from certain doom. I don't know how to repay you for that."

Ruby smiled, then she turned to fully face Pyrrha. "There's still that prophecy that was brought up. You're a very talented individual and I would be honored to continue fighting alongside you out there."

Pyrrha sighed, she knew the question would have to be answered at some point. She stood there for a moment. "You're positive that I'm the person you are looking for?" Ruby nodded, allowing Pyrrha another moment of pause. She turned to Ruby, smiled and then offered her hand to Ruby. "Then I shall stand by your side." Ruby took her hand and sealed the deal. "You have my shield and my sword to aid you." Once they disconnected the embrace, they returned to the festivities, taking a moment to rest until tomorrow came.

On a rooftop not far away though, someone stood there, watching Ruby. The dark clothes she wore helped conceal her in the black of night, leaving only her amber eyes exposed. "So, you're the one I'm looking for."


	6. The Rouge

**AN: I'm bringing in a new character, as well as starting up the next task for our illustrious group. Things are starting to heat up and the quest only gets more difficult from here. One thing about 'The Experiment' I already know how that is going to play out, it's just the part of getting up to that moment that I need to think of, but from what I'm thinking for that, it should be really good stuff. ****Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

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Ruby was the first to stir in the morning. She tended to wake up early so she could get some training in before the day began. As she sat up, she looked over to see her companions Yang and Jaune laying out still dead asleep. Yang was snoring so loudly she was amazed that her sister didn't wake everyone else up because of it. Walking through the rows of people, she walked out of the room in more casual clothing, with Crescent Rose in hand. Everyone seemed to have been enjoying themselves after the festival last night. The crowds of people that came to celebrate was enormous, and because of it, the city looked to be taking a day of rest today. Ruby never let herself rest though, her lifestyle was a hard one that pushed her to the brink on a constant basis, but it was one that she embraced with not a second of hesitation. It was her way to make a difference in the world.

Ruby walked out of the building she slept in during the night, and looked out over the city. The sun was not yet ready to come up, but the sky was starting to brighten up none the less. Ruby climbed up to one of the tallest buildings and found a nice quiet place to train for a few moments. As she went through the motions of her training, she took a moment to ponder all that she had been through in the past few weeks. She found her sister, helped guide a young soldier down the path he would need to take to become a warrior, and she saved the city of Sanctuary. Her journey was no where near its end though and she knew that the challenges ahead would be even more difficult. Yet she took that fact with a smile, knowing that the harder the challenge was, the more good it brought to the world around her. Everything she did would benefit someone in some way, and that gave her a reason to keep fighting.

Something felt off to Ruby at that moment though, like she was being watched by someone. It wasn't a normal feeling, but one of those gut instincts that told her to be careful of what's around her. She almost felt like someone was there with her, watching her every move, her every trick. Her suspicions were confirmed when she saw someone start to approach her. The person was someone whom Ruby had not seen before, which made Ruby suspicious of her actions. The girl standing before Ruby wore long black hair, and a bow atop her head, a black cloak covered most of her body and a black scarf around her neck. Her face was mostly covered with the only thing that could be seen being a pair of amber eyes on her face. Thankfully to Ruby, she remembered to bring Crescent Rose with her out to train. The figure in front of her decided to simply stand there, quietly observing as Ruby pulled Crescent Rose out and pointed it in her direction.

"You want to tell me why you are watching me from the shadows?" Ruby said. The figure stayed silent, just seeing everything unfold in front of her. "If you mean to bring me harm, then I won't hesitate to cut you down."

It was then that the figure decided to speak up. "Well then i have nothing to fear, seeing as how I don't mean to cause you any harm." She spoke in a calm and collected manner. Ruby wondered if she had experience in the art of the warrior.

"Then you should tell me what business you have watching me." Ruby wasn't about to put Crescent Rose away, she knew better than that. In her mind, lowering her guard around an unknown would incite some kind of trouble. Since Ruby was in the middle of an important quest, she couldn't take any chances.

"Are you afraid of me?" That seemed to catch Ruby off guard. "Do I unnerve you?" Ruby knew what this game was, trying to get into her head. At least that's what she figured that this strange person was trying to do to her. "I come here seeking answers, to questions that I've asked for a really long time now." the figure moved closer to Ruby, stopping just short of Crescent Rose's range. "I believe that you might have some of the answers that I'm looking for." The girl pulled down the scarf so that she could show the rest of her face to Ruby.

As the sun rose, Ruby thought about this person's motives. She thought that this could all be a ruse to get her to lower her guard, or that she could be telling the truth. Either way, Ruby wouldn't get anywhere if she kept her guard up like this. Lowering her weapon, but keeping it within arms reach, she decided to take the chance. "I guess I could humor you, if answers are all that you seek. Though to these questions, I may not have the answers you wish to know." Ruby saw that the girl understood that, nodding her head as she began to speak.

"I have seen many things in my life, corruption, discrimination, cruelty and death. I always wanted to know, why. Why do the good people have to die, and the wicked live in luxury?" The girl stood there waiting for an answer, which Ruby realized, she was to provide.

"Not all good people live a happy life, and some people who deserve to die, get to live. It's the unfortunate reality we live in." Ruby took a second to think of what to say. "But there are those who are willing to go above and beyond what it asked of them in defense of the light, to fight back the dark. To answer your question. I don't know why the world works that way. But I can tell you this, I do all that I can to give all the good people a chance to live their lives the best way they can." It was the reason why she joined the Huntsman.

"True, but the world isn't black and white. Some people who would be considered dark, may have the best of intentions in their heart. Would you be able to pass down death and judgement to someone so easily?"

Ruby had to admit, this person was good. "Well, if a person has good intentions in their heart, then I would try to find some way to help them. Whether it be by suggesting some other method to them, or by helping them if I deem it a worthwhile goal, I would do what I can to help them. I know the world isn't black and white, and like you I've seen much evils in my lifetime. It's why I do what I do, because I want to do what I can, even if it kills me."

Ruby managed to see a little bit of a faint smile cross the face of this woman. "Then you really have given me the answers that I was looking for." She turned away, ready to leave. Before she left though, Ruby called out to her.

"Wait." The girl stopped. "You obviously know who I am, so would you mind explaining to me who you are?"

The girl turned back to her as the sun rose high into the sky. "Not this time, but I can tell you this, you will seem me again soon." With that, the girl lifted the scarf back over her face, and she lept off the side of the roof. Ruby ran over to see what became of her, but when she got over to the ledge, she saw nothing. This mysterious person just vanished. Ruby pondered what became of this woman for a few moments, before she left to return to Yang and Jaune so that they could meet with Pyrrha to learn of their next task.

Little did Ruby know that the girl whom she spoke to was still nearby. As the girl walked through the streets, blending into the crowd somehow, she pulled out a scroll and sent a message to someone. Looking over what she typed before she sent it, she wanted to make sure it was what she wanted to say. 'When you came to me about this mission, I was very skeptical at first, but now I see why you chose her, and I see why you need this done. We have a deal.' She sent the message and continued on her way, fully aware of what she just got herself into.

Ruby returned to Jaune and Yang and woke them up. Jaune was easy to wake, but Yang took some work. The amount of booze she drank in the night caused her to become a drunkard, and so she wasn't to eager to wake up. Ruby eventually grabbed a bucket of water and dunked it right on top of the blonde mercenary, causing her to flail about on the floor. "God I'm up, I'm up. Jeez that certainly wasn't nice." Yang stated.

"It woke you up now didn't it." Ruby stated. "We need to meet with Pyrrha and contact Lord Ozpin on what we should do for our next mission." Ruby helped Yang to her feet, and the three of them walked over to the Queens throne room. Ruby couldn't shake the thought of what she experienced earlier in the day, the conversation kept replaying itself in her head over and over again. When they arrived they noticed that Pyrrha was waiting for them to arrive.

"I hope you all had a good nights rest." She said to Ruby.

"It was a well deserved rest if you ask me." Ruby said, pretty cheerful at the moment. "We should ask Lord Ozpin what we should do next. He may have translated some more of the texts."

High above them inside the throne room, the figure that Ruby encountered before was watching them, waiting for the right moment to come down and make her presence known. As she watched from above, she saw Ruby turn with Pyrrha to contact Lord Ozpin. "Ah Ruby, I hope everything is going well so far." He said to her.

"Things are going well sir. We have found Miss Nikos and the package you wished to be delivered to the Queen has been handed off to her majesty. We were hoping that you would know what our next task is." The girl above watched carefully. She saw the man in the video feed talking to Ruby, and recognized him immediately, though it wasn't hard to do so, for he was well known throughout all of Remnant.

"As a matter of fact, I do have a new task for you." Now was the girls moment, she dropped down from the ceiling, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. The guards came at her to strike her down, fearing her as a potential assassin. She leaned back as they came in to strike her, pulling her weapon out from behind her back. As she came back up, she swung upward at the first guard and knocked him back, then she grabbed the second guards arm and threw him into the first. Yang and Jaune charged at her, hoping that they could take her out as well. Jaune swung his sword at her, but it was deflected by her weapon, and she spun him around and knocked him away. Yang took the opportunity to try and hit her while she wasn't looking, swinging her fist straight for her head.

As Yang's fist made contact, something seemed off. Yang's fist went right through her, as the image of the girl in front of Yang disappeared. The girl reappeared above Yang and swung her leg and kicked her right in the side of the head, throwing her back towards Ruby. Jaune came in for a second attempt, only to be thrown towards Ruby as well. Ruby and Pyrrha were about to enter the fray, before Ozpin spoke to the mysterious woman. "I see you finally decided to join us for this little meeting. I was wondering when you would show up." Ruby and Pyrrha stood confused for a second, noticing the woman put her weapon away and walked towards them.

"I was just waiting for the right moment, though I shouldn't have been surprised when this happened." The girl offered her hand out to Yang, wishing to help her up. Yang refused and she stood up on her own. The girl didn't seem offended, understanding that it probably was too soon to be trying that.

"I'm surprised you even let yourself be seen at all. But none the less, I suppose an introduction is in order." Ozpin said, turning his attention back towards Ruby. "Ruby, this is Blake Belladonna, your newest companion." Ruby was surprised by the sudden turn of events, as was everyone else. "Blake, you obviously already met Miss Rose, now let me introduce you to Jaune Arc, Yang Xiao Long, and Pyrrha Nikos. These will be your new teammates for this quest, so you should at least try to find a way to get along." Blake held her hand out to Ruby, hoping to start things off right. Ruby looked at it for a second before she cautiously took the offering.

"Now onto the task at hand. This next assignment is not going to be easy, and there aren't too many details that I can give you. Anything that I say now, is the full extent of my knowledge on the matter." Ruby didn't like the sound of that. "You are tasked with finding someone that the text refers to as, the Experiment. Little is known about this person, gender, age, not even a name. The only thing that we do know, is that this person is being held at the Schnee Castle out near Menagerie. It's quite a long distance away, so I managed to book you passage on a cargo train heading for Fangorn from Esgaroth. You should make your way back here as soon as possible, and from here I can try to give you some more details." Ozpin said. He was right, there wasn't much information on this person to run with.

"Uh, I don't mean to be rude, but why do we even need this person in the first place. Seems like too much trouble for us to handle if you ask me." Yang stated. It was a valid point, there was going to be a lot of trouble just to get this person out, and so it would be worthwhile to know that the effort wouldn't be wasted.

"I can tell you that this person has a vital role in the quest, so it is important. I wish I could give you more to work with, but this is everything i got for you. I'll see you when you return." The video feed died, and everyone seemed to wonder what was going on.

"Things seem to be picking up huh." Jaune said first.

"I suppose we don't have much choice in the matter, at least for the time being." Pyrrha said. "Though I think we should also address the issue of our new friend Blake here as well." It was another thing about the day that seemed to go strangely. Here was this person standing before them, who was now going to join them on their quest, yet they never expected this to happen to them at all.

Blake spoke up before any of them could say something. "I do not intend on causing any trouble for you. For now though, we should at least get moving. You can learn more about me along the way to Esgaroth." It was a simple decision, and probably the most logical one that Ruby could think of.

"Fine, but I hope you expect a lot of questions from all of us." Ruby said as she led her now group of five out to return to Esgaroth.


	7. Looking Back

**AN: So this is pretty much a back-story chapter, which covers a portion of most of the characters back-story, or at least something relevant to each of them in the context of what's going on. Thanks for reading this and I hope you enjoy the story.**

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Everyone seemed to be on edge around their new companion. Blake Belladonna, a woman who merely an hour ago, had managed to find her way into the hall of the Queen of Sanctum, easily defeat Yang and Jaune in combat, and then reveal that she is now a part of their team. Needless to say, everyone had a reason to be concerned, even Blake would admit to that. When she originally was found by Ozpin, she didn't seem to find his idea very promising, so she wasn't putting too much of an investment into what she was told. In the process of finding out whether it was something that was worth the effort, she met Ruby Rose, a young Huntress whom in the day before, had saved the city of Sanctuary from a terrible threat. She spoke to her about many questions she wanted to know, questions regarding a way she would judge a person's character. She saw the light in that young girl, and it was just enough to convince her to join, in hopes of being able to see the world in a different light.

She understood though, that gaining the trust of these new companions of hers, wouldn't be easy or quick. Time would need to be put in before she could be trusted, and she would need to prove her worth to them as a result of her actions. As Ruby had said before they left, she was going to be bombarded by questions, and she had to be prepared for that. So far in the journey however, everyone stayed pretty quiet, aside from the occasional small talk. Ruby was guiding the way back to Vale, and she seemed to be in a hurry, wanting to get there so they could leave for Menagerie. They were to go to the Schnee Castle and find someone called, 'the Experiment', though no one could imagine who this person was. Ruby didn't want to miss the cargo train that they were to take over to get there, since Menagerie was quite a long distance away, and it would appear that time was of the essence.

Blake was just waiting for the moment when the questions would start, knowing fully well that it would happen at some point. She didn't seem to be too worried about it though, because when it would come, she knew that she would be ready for it. Hours passed before they finally set up camp for the night. No one seemed to be curious about the fact that not a single question was asked. Blake herself was surprised by it too, though to be honest, she knew that she would rather they not know too much about her, and some of the dark things she had done in the past. As they set up the camp, Blake noticed that Yang had managed to start the fire with extreme ease, she seemed to have a very fiery personality from what Blake though. They took shelter inside of a small outcropping along the side of a cliff, easily defensible and with a high view of what was going on around them.

Once everyone had pretty much settled down, Ruby finally spoke up to Blake about what she had asked before. "So, now that we have a moment to ourselves, you wanna tell us about yourself Blake?"

It was a broad question even by the loosest standards. "Fine, anything you want to know specifically?" Blake had asked in reply.

Before Ruby could say anything, Yang spoke up first. "Yeah so how come when you first showed up, you didn't like, just walk through the front door like a normal person?"

It was clear as day to Blake that she was still a little miffed about what happened earlier in the day. "First, I doubt that the guards would have let me in, and second, I'm pretty sure you would have reacted the same way if I just randomly walked up to you. Either that, or you would have laughed me off as a mere annoyance."

Yang looked to argue, but then she thought about it and realized, she would have done exactly that. "Fine, but that still doesn't say why you attacked us."

"Technically we attacked her first." Jaune said, quietly and mumbled so that only those with the sharpest of hearing could understand it. Ruby and Blake looked over at him, knowing fully well what he had said. "What?"

Ruby just chuckled a bit. "At least you see that point Jaune." Ruby then turned her attention back to Blake. "I want to know about you. Things like, where you're from, or something like your story basically."

Blake didn't really know what to say at first. She never had someone ask for her life story before, and she never really told it to anyone else. A moment of silence hung in the air as Blake tried to think of something to say to the group in front of her. "Sorry, I've never actually said anything about me to anyone else before, so just bear with me." Blake took a deep breath, knowing that she had a lot of talking to do. It wasn't something that she particularly enjoyed, but when she wanted to talk, or tell a story of some kind, she really could do well.

"I was born in Menagerie, outside of the Capital city of Fangorn. Growing up was hard for me, the country was in the midst of a revolution, the military power in charge trying to be overthrown and replaced with a more kind regime. My parents were a part of the forces fighting to bring change to our lands, so I didn't get to see them too much. Eventually, like most of the rebellion, they died, leaving me alone carrying the burdens of being an orphaned child. I had no other family, so I quickly had to learn how to survive out in the harsh world of Menagerie under the Military regime, that had become much worse than before." Blake looked up at the sky, the moonlight shining brightly down upon them, and the light of the fire glowing on her face. "It was tough, but I made it through somehow, even through the torture that I had to personally endure."

Ruby felt a little bad for Blake, a person who had lost her family to a war she didn't understand, much like the destruction she witnessed. "I can't imagine what it was like over there." It wouldn't do anything to help, but it seemed like a nice thing to say at the time.

"Most people don't. They live their lives comfortably in their homes, the biggest worries on their mind being what to eat for dinner." Another deep breath from Blake, her mind filling with memories from a long time ago. "Eventually, a group went to take a stand against the current regime, even after the last group had failed. Only this time, their methods were more brutal and destructive. Even now, they still fight in Menagerie, however most other realms think of them as terrorists, because of the actions they take on kingdoms outside of Menagerie." Ruby knew exactly what group Blake was talking about, having dealt with them on a few occasions in the past.

"You mean the White Fang." Ruby said.

Blake nodded. "When they first got started, the people started to rejoice. But those cries of cheer, soon turned into shouts of hatred. The people saw that the White Fang were no better than the power that was already in place, and they were caught in the middle of another civil war."

Pyrrha decided to jump in at that point. "So then what did you think of the White Fang?"

Blake thought it over for a second, she knew deep down that she needed to choose her words carefully. "I would say that while the intentions are good, the methods are wrong. Though from experience, not everyone who is a part of the White Fang, is as ruthless and coldblooded as those who sit up top of their ranks. Do they deserve to be called terrorists, even if they never killed a person before in their life? I find myself wondering that every single day."

Ruby realized why Blake had asked the questions that she did. Blake had some kind of personal connection to either someone in the White Fang, or maybe even the White Fang itself. Ruby kept this little bit of information to herself so that Yang Pyrrha and Jaune wouldn't freak out, hoping that when she had a moment alone with her, that they could talk about it. "I take it that's why you asked me about that before huh, when you saw me at the break of dawn." Blake didn't say anything, electing to just nod instead. It was all that Ruby needed to know though, so she let the topic rest, choosing to bring up something else instead. "So, I wanted to know about that trick you did earlier today, the one that you used on Yang earlier."

Blake chuckled a tiny bit. Mentally she was thanking Ruby for changing topics, as well as remembering the look on Yang's face when she did that. "I can create a shadow image of myself, so that in instances where I would be hit by an attack, they would hit the fake. It's useful for the moments when I get an opportunity to strike my opponent while they are confused, like Yang was earlier. Speaking of which, I hope you still aren't mad at me over that." Blake looked over to Yang, who was rolling her eyes.

"If I was mad, you would know. Plus it'll take a lot more than that to get me mad." Yang leaned her back against the wall as she sat around the fire with everyone else. "Then again, I don't go around making a habit of sneaking up on people."

Ruby rolled here eyes, as Blake just sighed. "For what it's worth, I apologize to you for what happened." Blake stood up and walked over to Yang, offering out her hand when she got over to her. "Why don't we start over?" Yang looked at Blake for a second, before she decided to put her issues aside. Yang shook Blake's hand, showing her willingness to forgive and forget.

"Sounds like a good idea. Name's Yang Xiao Long by the way."

"Blake Belladonna."

Ruby looked pleased by the turn of events. As she saw the two of them start to get along, she realized something that she overlooked before then. She realized that Yang's last name was different. "Xiao Long?"

Yang almost immediately knew what she was referring to. "After our home was destroyed, I was taken in by a world famous mercenary. The guy was really sweet and caring. When I first met him, he was curious as to why I was wandering the woods by myself. I told him about what happened to my home, and that you were still missing, and so he decided to take me in. He taught me how to fight and helped me become a strong person." She subconsciously placed her hand on the orange scarf around her neck. "When he died about two years ago, I decided to take his last name as my own, since he didn't have any family of his own, and he left me this scarf to remember him by."

Ruby walked over now and gave Yang a hug. They had spent a long time apart from each other, and there was so much to catch up on. Luckily for them they had a lot of time to do that, so they wanted to take things slowly and not bombard each other with stories. Even now though, Ruby wished for nothing more than to just hope that they get to spend a long time together after they were done.

Pyrrha walked over and placed a hand on Yang's shoulder as well, thinking of her own life. "I know what it's like to lose someone close to you. About 6 months ago, my father was out on a scouting trip. Him and the three men that went with him were ambushed by a pack of Grimm and no one survived." Pyrrha sighed. "I was one of the men sent out to find the scouting team, and when we found them..." She shuddered upon remembering the image of her father' dismembered corpse, picked apart by the buzzards. "...let's just say that I wish I wasn't a part of the group that was sent to find them."

Everyone had their own issues, each of them carrying it with them wherever they went. Jaune had the expectations of his family that he has failed to meet up to this point, causing him to question everything he did. Pyrrha, she had seen death and loss frequently, letting the memory of her father's death stay with her in the deepest recesses of her mind. Blake spent her whole life alone in a war torn world, having her life connected to a group that is considered terroristic. Yang had dealt with the loss of her own family, not knowing what happened to them. Even though she had her sister back, Yang still worries that it will all get taken away from her again in an instant. Even this 'experiment' seemed to have a troubled life, and they didn't even know who this person was. If someone was referred to as an experiment instead of a person, it was easy to see that they had their own share of issues as well.

Ruby herself, had so much that she had held in. Witnessing the destruction caused by the Black Dragon, seeing her home destroyed, losing her family, it all piled up on her. She saw death on an almost constant basis, and it was never the prettiest of moments. Even the trials she went through to join the Huntsman were grueling and some of the most taxing challenges she went through in her entire life. The thought of knowing that she could die at any point didn't make her feel any better, though she was prepared for that eventuality. The only hard part was knowing that it would hurt Yang when it happened, and maybe even Jaune, Pyrrha, Blake, and everyone else she met up with on this journey.

After a very long and uncomfortable silence, Jaune stood up and looked out on the horizon. "It's a really beautiful view out tonight." It broke the silence that had laid in. "Kinda reminds me of this place I would run off to as a kid. I would, sneak off when my mother wasn't looking, go out to this little hill that had a great view of the horizon, and just sit there and watch the sunset. I didn't have a care in the world, what kid would honestly?" He turned back towards his companions. "Even though we each have our own inner demons and our own personal scars, there's still a lot of life and good in each of us. I mean, we're all trying to make the world a better place, so that goes to show what we're capable of, right?"

Jaune looked over the faces of everyone siting in front of the fire, noticing them brighten up after he finished. "Good speech Jaune. I believe you'll make a fine leader some day." Ruby said to him smiling. She stood up now and stretched. "I don't know about you guys, but we still have a long way to go before we reach Esgaroth. A good night of sleep will do us all a huge benefit." Everyone seemed to be in agreement on that point, and they started to slowly fall asleep, keeping a bit of small talk going as they fell asleep one by one.

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Ruby was the last one still awake, something in the back of her mind keeping her up. She quietly walked over to the edge of the cliff and sat down, letting her legs hang off of the side. She thought about what came ahead, with every step of their journey growing harder and harder as they went along the path they took. It wasn't going to be easy, and Ruby still managed to not question her own judgement on some things, but she knew that the journey would be hard to begin with. She thought back to a moment when she first went to join the Huntsman, something that would stick with her for as long as she was alive.

When she came up on the gates of the Huntsman's home, she met with a prominent member of the group. She remembered talking to him about all of the different trials she would have to go through in order to officially join the ranks. While she was being told all of this, she remembered the body of a Huntsman being carried into the gates, the man having given his life out in there for someone. When she saw this man, the person she was talking too turned to her. Ruby remembered exactly what he said to her that day.

"One of the few things people don't realize about us. They see us as these great indestructible warriors, yet we are actually far from that. We're just as vulnerable as everyone else, but there is one difference between us and them. I say this to everyone who comes through these halls, and to be honest, not everyone likes this idea. We know that any task we are given could be our last task, something that you will learn as you go through the trials. We want to make the world a better place, and sometimes that requires us to make a sacrifice to make that happen. If you go into any fight knowing this, then you learn to hold nothing back, and treat every day like it is your last. Today, enjoy what you have, tell your friends and family you love them, because tomorrow, you may not have the chance."

It was an idea that kept Ruby going, allowed her to make the most of the life she lived, and gave her a chance to make a difference. Looking out at the horizon, she smiled to herself, before she went to sleep.


	8. Good Judge of Character

**AN: I hope this chapter came out good to you guys, because it certainly wasn't easy to write. I had midterms this week at my school (which gave me a bit of Writer's Block) and during my Lighting exam, I actually threw up. While I was able to finish the exam, it still sucked. Fortunately I feel better, and I was able to finish this last night after I woke up from the nap I took after that exam, but I still hope that it came out alright. Since I have spring break coming up this week, I plan on getting ahead in the story so I can give myself some leeway and not have to stress myself out so much. **

**On a side note, I do know what shipping I plan on doing so far, and there may be some other ships that I may or may not do as well. So far, there will be White Rose, Arkos, and maybe some Bumblebee, though that one I don't really know how to work out exactly. Hope you guys enjoy seeing that come to fruition. **

**Anyway, thanks for putting up with this ridiculous AN, and I hope you enjoy the chapter. Thanks for reading my story, it'll only get better from here.**

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The next morning, everyone woke up pretty well refreshed for once, their moment where they shared a part of themselves to everyone seemed to bring them closer together. As a result of that, they managed to rest easy, putting more trust in each other. The group continued their journey back to Esgaroth with haste, managing to arrive in record time. Ruby was glad to be home, even if it was for a short time. Somehow, being back in Esgaroth, gave Ruby a feeling of joy, one that she couldn't hold down. There would be time to enjoy the moment later, she needed to meet with Ozpin right away. As they walked through the streets, she saw Yang, Pyrrha and Blake admiring the city, how it managed to sparkle and shine. "You guys enjoying the view?" Ruby asked.

"Oh man, this city looks amazing! I've never seen it before." Yang said. She was clearly excited to be around. Ruby and Jaune knew their way around already so they didn't have to worry about sight seeing. Blake and Pyrrha were showing their interest in the city though with Yang, marveling at the sights as they all made their way up towards the kings hall. When they got up to the gate, the guard that stood there recognized Jaune and Ruby instantly.

"Well well well, if it isn't Jaunie-boy. Surprised to see that you're still alive, figured you were killed by a squirrel out there." The guard said. Ruby remembered how the guards treated Jaune, however before she stepped in to say something, Pyrrha spoke up first.

"You know, you shouldn't be insulting his skill level. I have seen him firsthand fight against the armies of Grimm, my own life being saved by his hand."

The guard decided to turn his attention towards Pyrrha now. "And who the hell are you supposed to be?" He asked, very rudely.

"Pyrrha Nikos, Captain in the Sanctum Royal Guard." Pyrrha spoke her title very proudly. But it only caused the guard to laugh.

"So you're a captain of the Royal Guard?" Pyrrha nodded as he kept laughing. "I guess that Sanctum has really lowered their standards huh." The guard kept laughing, even a few of the other guards that stood there joining as well. Pyrrha stood there quietly for a few seconds, mentally debating whether or not to put him in his place, eventually electing to do something. Pyrrha took a step towards them, not making any inclination of aggression. Once she reached them, she grabbed the guards shoulder, and spun him around her, throwing him into one of the other guards. Once the guards realized what she was doing, they decided to try and intervene. As they came towards her, she skillfully dodged their punches and countered everything, resulting in many guards on the floor. As the first guard stood up and pulled out his weapon, a voice called out to him.

"Put your weapon away." In the confusion of the fight, no one noticed Lord Ozpin step out of the hall. He stood at the entrance to his throne, waiting for the guard to obey.

"Sir, this woman attempted to lay harm upon us, striking at us. We should throw this bitch from our city." The guard said. Pyrrha remained calm, she knew that she was in the right, so she didn't need to worry one bit.

"Don't think that you can determine whether a person is right or wrong in their actions when you decide to provoke them. Just because your father decided to put you up here on this post, doesn't give you the right to insult those who approach the gate Cardin." The soldier looked like he wanted to speak up, but was put down by Ozpin quickly. "I still have the full authority to place you into a position where you clean out the toilets for a living. So learn your place. I have a meeting with the guests you just tried to insult so let them through." As Cardin looked towards Ozpin, his demeanor grew sour, he was put in his place and it bruised his pride from both Pyrrha's beat down, and Ozpin's threat.

As Ruby and company were led into the hall, Ozpin spoke to them. "I take it your journey back was relatively uneventful." He asked Ruby.

"As calm as the top of the waterfall." Ruby would have to take everyone to see the view from the top of the waterfall, believing it was the most beautiful thing that she had ever seen. For now however, she had something else on her mind. "Anyway, do you have anything else that we can use my lord? More information, a plan of what course of action to take? Anything?"

Lord Ozpin sighed. He had something, just not much to go on exactly. "There is at least something I can speak of, though I do not know how much help it would be to you." He walked over to grab a folder with some information in it. "While there isn't anything that can tell you who this person is exactly, what it can tell you, is that they may be directly related to the Schnee family themselves."

It was weird to see something like that, one particularly grim idea popping into Blake's head. "Wait, so this person, whom might be a Schnee themselves, was directly experimented on?"

"We believe that may be the case." Ozpin said, his tone still and calm.

"That's horrible." Ruby muttered, her mind wondering exactly what kind of torture this person must have gone through.

"Do you have any idea on what the nature of the experiments could be?" Blake asked Ozpin.

Ozpin shook his head, unable to tell them anything else. "From what I've heard, it wasn't very encouraging. This person may be dead for all we know, though I doubt that is the case." He turned around, looking up towards the throne he sat upon. "I wish I had more for you to go with, but this is all that I can give to you." Ozpin sighed before going on. "Time is of the essence here, every minute spent on the journey is just one minute closer to either this experiments death, or worse. The return of the Black Dragon." Ozpin turned back around, a very serious look on his face. "The train leaves in an hour, and I have provided you with supplies for the trip. Now go, you have a long journey ahead of you, and I believe that many dangers lay along your path, so be careful." With that, Ruby led her company of men out of the hall and towards the train that they were to take.

Thoughts of what this person went through, passed through Ruby's mind. She couldn't shake the idea that this person had been given a terrible life, and she wanted nothing more than to bring them back into the light, where they would be safe. She walked through the streets with a heavy burden on her shoulders, that keeps getting bigger. The fate of her home, her friends and family, they were all riding on her to pull through and stop the Black Dragon. A lot of challenges lay ahead of her, some that she couldn't handle herself, but even she knew that failing wouldn't just be something that she could deal with, for failure meant the end of all civilization.

As they approached the train, each of them climbed aboard the car that Ozpin had set up to transport them. It was roomy enough that they could all sleep comfortably at night, and have plenty of room to train during the day. Ruby looked back on the the city before she walked onto the train car. She felt that maybe that would be the last time she got to see her home. However, right as the train was about to depart, she saw something that caught her attention.

A man was running down the street towards the train, he looked to be wearing ragged clothes and had an appearance of not having much to live by. The man was being chased by the guards as he ran towards the train. Ruby looked on as the man jumped onto the train car as it started to leave, holding onto the stairs that led into the train car they were on. Ruby looked to confront the man, but noticed that Blake made a move to speak to the man first. As she opened the door, they all saw the man quickly head inside, bumping into Blake and falling on his face. Looking up, the man gave an awkward smile, looking up to see Pyrrha holding her rifle aimed at him. "Uh, I can explain." The man said.

"Please do. I'm interested to know what you're doing jumping onto the train." Ruby said.

The man stood up, his hand running through his disheveled blonde hair. "Yeah, I'll be honest, I didn't think someone was going to be on here." He said as he helped Blake to her feet. "Then again, I didn't expect to see you especially Blake."

The thought that this guy knew Blake was kind of a surprise to everyone, who just stood there quietly wondering what was going on. "The same could be said about you Sun. What are you doing here?" Blake said to the man.

"I could easily ask you the same thing. But if you must know, I'm just doing what I usually do. Though it ain't easy being a Faunus like me." Ruby finally noticed the tail coming from his backside. "Then again, you know what that's like."

Blake stood there, staring at him and hoping that no one would comment on that. Unfortunately for her, Yang spoke up about it. "Wait, you're a Faunus Blake?" Blake simply closed her eyes, and took the bow off of her head, revealing a pair of cat ears hidden underneath. Yang's eyes lit up with excitement when she saw the ears. "Oh my god they are so cute. You should keep them out more often."

Blake felt herself start to blush, she never heard anyone say such nice things to her about her Faunus attributes. "Th-thanks. I normally don't have people say such nice things about it. Most people just push the Faunus aside as nothing more than animals."

"Well you can thank the White Fang for that one. They cause so many problems, that no matter what, every Faunus suffers because of it. It's why I do what I do." Sun stated. "Oh, by the way, my name is Sun Wukong. I'm a Nomad, wandering around the lands trying to correct the mistakes of the White Fang and showing people that not all Faunus are like them." Sun stated.

"Well, seeing as how you're on the train with us, you're probably going to be here a while." Ruby said. "I'm Ruby Rose, this is Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos and my sister Yang Xiao Long." She gestured to each one respectively. "You already know Blake I'm guessing. So what exactly are you doing here if you don't mind me asking?" Ruby asked Sun.

"Well, I was going to head over to Menagerie and try to find a gem that belongs to a member of the Royal Court in Atlas. It was stolen by a thief and I believe that they went to Menagerie in order to escape. Would be a smart ploy since Atlas and Menagerie are on the brink of war with each other over recent actions from both sides." Sun said.

Ruby gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Well, obviously we're heading to Menagerie too. We have business to deal with at the Schnee Castle, but right now, we're stuck waiting on this train. I guess you should stick with us in the mean time. Maybe we could end up helping each other out in the long haul." She held out her hand to Sun, who shook it with no hesitation.

"I think that would be a pretty good idea. And to be honest, it would be nice to work with someone again." He said as he found a place to put his stuff. Yang however walked over to Ruby.

"Are you sure that's such a good idea? Don't get me wrong, he seems like a good guy, but we just met him. We don't know if he could be trying something." Yang said.

Blake cut in at this point. "Well the same could be said about me. And I can vouch for him, he wouldn't do anything to hurt us. It's not the kind of person he is so you don't have to worry about it." Blake said, giving Ruby two points to consider.

"Well, either way, he's on the train with us, so we might as well try to get along. And I do have to agree with Blake on this one." Ruby said.

"He does seem like the kind of person who wouldn't go back on what he said. But Yang also has a point in that not all of us know him aside from this moment. I'm sure that you can understand some of our hesitation Blake." Pyrrha said next.

"True, but right now we don't have the luxury of just saying that he should leave. So for the time being, I think you guys should get to know him. He really is a kind person, and he is truly passionate about trying to bring the Faunus into a better light." Blake said next.

"If that's the case, I think that Blake's right in that he wouldn't do this. It would undo the work he has done by attacking us." Jaune said now.

Ruby sighed, she was pondering all of the different opinions. Right at the moment, only one thing could be done, but how they went about doing it would be hard to judge. "Well, since we're all here, let's just make the most of what we have." Ruby put a smile on her face. "We should get to know him before we jump to any conclusions. And besides, we may be able to help him with his quest, and he may be willing to help us with ours at some point." Ruby said. "Let's just give the guy a chance." It was clear on Blake's face that she liked the idea Ruby just said. Everyone else though still had some doubts, but for understandable reasons. For now though, they would give it a shot and hope for the best.


	9. A Broken Kingdom

**I've got some interesting news in regards to this story, and many other things. First and foremost, this story is now going to become part of a trilogy. I have a plan for how this first act is going to end, and then I can get to work on the second act. The story will take a pause at the act break so that I can get my story in line for the next act in the meantime, once this is done.**

**Next, I want to know who you guys think that the experiment is. It should be pretty clear at this point who it is, but I want to know what you think about it. So let me know what's on your mind.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the chapter.**

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The train had more than enough room for everyone to squeeze in on it comfortably. Though it was kind of a tight fit, it was big enough for them to be fine with it. Then again, that was before they had to add in another person. Since Sun had arrived, things were a little bit more cramped. He tried his best to stay out of everyone's way, gravitating towards Blake the most since he at least knew her. Ruby knew that she wanted to change his opinion of everyone else because she was curious by him. It wasn't every day that you have someone appear out of the blue.

They were still a few hours out of Menagerie's capital of Fangorn, but it gave Ruby a bit of time to try and formulate a plan. She knew that the idea of breaking into the Schnee Castle wouldn't be easy, but she had to try. It was definitely going to be easier said than done, the mission ahead of them filled with all kinds of peril and whatnot. Ruby decided to put the battle plan away for a few minutes and get something to eat. She walked over to the other side of the train car where everyone was, and she grabbed some bread to eat real quick.

As she walked through the train car, she ran into Sun. It was a bit of a surprise when he first came aboard the train with them, but since he was here they decided to make the most of it. Ruby decided to try and get to know him while she had the chance. "Oh hey, I didn't see you there."

"Eh, it happens. I'm pretty used to people not noticing me." He said.

"You like not being noticed? I figured that you probably would have been fine with not being noticed while you were here on the train with us right?" Ruby said back to him. She decided to take a seat in the little alcove that she was standing next to, indicating that she wanted to have a pretty decent length conversation.

"Yeah, that would've been nice, but I guess it worked out in the end. Though being who I am, I tend to travel in the worst possible conditions, so this is a nice change." He said, sitting down in a seat opposite to Ruby, and leaning back so that he was comfortable.

"Sounds like you've been around quite a bit. I've done a fair share of traveling myself, but mostly I would have to walk from place to place." Sun started to laugh at Ruby's statement.

"Wait, you walked everywhere? Are you crazy? Not even I could do that." Sun said.

"Well, it's actually nothing compared to some of the things I've done before. It's all just a part of the life for the Huntsman."

Sun was about to take a sip of water, before he decided against it once he heard that Ruby was a Huntress. "You're a Huntress?" Ruby nodded, the awe apparent on Sun's face. "Damn, that's just amazing. I never thought I would see the day when I actually met one of your kind. I've only heard stories about you guys at local bars. They talk about how you're great warriors who defend the lives of all good folk."

"We try our best, sometimes it's harder than others based off of what's going on at the moment."

Sun shook his head. "Yeah I can imagine. It's not like you can fix all of the problems." He sighed, thinking back to something from a previous life. "It's funny, I remember this one time from my childhood, when I used to live in Menagerie. I was getting picked on by these people and I got into a fight with them, and the guards came over and broke up the fight. The only thing is, they started to blame the fight on me because I was the Faunus."

Ruby took a second to think about it. She knew that Menagerie wasn't a friendly place to the Faunus, and they were very open about that notion. The country was a police state where it's people were living under martial law of a Mad King. Faunus were often beaten in the streets and left out to die at times, their homes burnt down and their lives ruined. It was a dreadful place to live in, and many people knew it. Sun continued, bringing Ruby back into reality.

"I told the guy that they wouldn't be laughing it the Huntsman showed up. He just laughed at me and said that they Huntsman wouldn't bother with a person like me." Sun shook his head again and put a smile back on his face. "I told myself that day that I would prove the Faunus' worth to the world. And so here I am, wandering the lands on a train car with strangers."

Ruby couldn't help but laugh at that. "Yeah, never thought you would end up here today huh."

"Understatement much?" Sun said back to her.

"Yeah, that's true." She looked over at where she left her work, and realized that she needed to get back to what she was doing before. "Well, it was nice talking to you Sun, but I got to get back to work now." She said as she stood up ready to head back to her duties.

"Nice talking to you too. Good luck with your work stuff." Sun said as he walked back towards the rest of the group.

Ruby went back to planning the attack on Schnee Castle. That wasn't what she was originally hoping to do, however, given the circumstances, she figured that there wasn't much of a choice in the matter. She couldn't just walk in and ask them to let her see the experiment, she would probably get attacked just for knowing about the experiment in the first place. No the only way to go about this was to invade the castle somehow. That was no small feat though, and it was evident in the amount of stress Ruby was getting just from trying to figure out how to do it.

Time passed by quickly for Ruby, and she finally got at least some kind of plan into action. Unfortunately, it meant that she had to split up her team into two groups, something that she wasn't really too keen on at first, but realized that there wasn't much of a choice in the matter. As she finished up the final details, she went to go talk to her friends about what the plan was, before she realized that Menagerie was almost upon them. She had to put away the plans for the time being, in case some wandering eyes saw them, and prepare to disembark at the Menagerie capital of Fangorn.

In all of Menagerie, Fangorn was the most brutal and dangerous city of them all. The police force was more brutal, and the citizens were more reckless. There was often violence in the streets because of the way the city was run, often the sounds of fighting and the occasional gunshot being heard throughout the city. Ruby was lucky to have never needed to go here before now, hearing stories from the other Huntsman about how even though Menagerie respected their rank, the police still sometimes tried to treat them as normal citizens, with each attempt ending in some kind of fight. It was going to be a dangerous journey towards the Schnee Castle that stood near Menagerie's Captial.

As Ruby and her companions disembarked from the train, they were met almost immediately with resistance from the local police force. "I'm only going to say this once, state your business in Fangorn, or we will use force."

Brutal and right to the point. Ruby knew this was how it was going to be, only hoping that she could manage to avoid it in the long haul. "I'm here on Huntsman business, as are my companions here. We are only passing through the city on our way to Schnee Castle." Ruby said, not wanting to give the soldiers a reason to try and start a fight they didn't need.

"Does that include animal boy here? Cause if it does then I'm gonna tell you now, he better not be." There goes that famous Fangorn hospitality.

Ruby knew that either way, Sun wasn't going to be liked. The only difference between him being with her or not, was that if he was with her, then maybe he wouldn't have to worry about things too much. "That's right, and his name is Sun Wukong." Ruby took a bold step forward towards the guard. "You may be the guards here, but I'm still a Huntsman, and that means that if you do anything, then you risk my people coming to bring justice to your kind. And you can expect us to be swift in dealing judgement."

The guard laughed for a second. "And what makes you think that your kind would do such a thing? It wouldn't be very noble and upholding of them do to such a thing now would it?"

Ruby knew the answer to this trick easily. "If anyone interferes in the actions of a Huntsman, then they are to be considered criminals to all kingdoms, including their own. This is a law created between _all_ of the kingdoms, including this one. So stand aside and don't interfere." Ruby grew aggressively serious for a moment, freaking Yang out a tiny bit. The guard merely scowled at Ruby, before he begrudgingly let her pass through.

"Don't do anything stupid while you're here." He said to all of them. As Sun passed, he gave an even deeper scowl towards him, which caused Sun to just shake his head.

Ruby walked down the street a bit before she turned to make sure that everyone was there with her. Sun walked up to her and sighed. "I guess this is where I take my leave." He held out his hand to Ruby, which Ruby shook immediately. "It was a pleasure to meet each of you. Hopefully we'll see each other soon."

"Take care of yourself out there Sun." Blake said to him.

"Yeah, and good luck with your mission." Jaune said to him as well, patting him on the back.

"Thanks guys, and good luck to you as well." Sun turned down the street and walked away, his own path taking him on a different direction. Something in Ruby's mind told her that they would meet each other again some day. But now she looked ahead to what she still had to do. There was still Schnee Castle to go to, and she honestly didn't even know where to go.

Walking through the streets of Fangorn, Ruby saw why it was considered an atrocious place. The buildings there were run down, with graffiti and wildlife growing everywhere. The people on the streets were always on alert, and there was even some people being beaten in broad daylight. Ruby looked over like she wanted to help, but Blake stopped her. "I know you want to help, but if we get involved, then we put ourselves at risk with the authorities." Blake was right, which upset Ruby, and they continued on.

"This is absolutely atrocious. How could anyone let this go on?" Pyrrha asked.

"It's hard to see the world in a different way when you grew up in the safe haven of Sanctuary." Blake stated. "For some people, this is every day life, and so sometimes it changes the way people see the world around them." It was the sad reality for people who were under this rule. They were treated like toys and they suffered every day because of it.

"That's horrible." Yang stated.

"It really is." Blake said looking off in the distance, not really focused on anything in particular. Yang came over to her and threw her arm around Blake's shoulders.

"Well, now that you're with us, you don't have to worry about people treating you like this anymore."

Blake looked over at Yang confused. "What makes you think that I went through this myself?" Blake asked her.

"Well, I guess it's because you looked like you knew what it was like personally. And to be honest, I hate to see you sad for some reason." It was a very weird way of answering her, but Yang was being truthful. Ruby looked on, and couldn't help but smile at Yang's way with things. She didn't see what else went down, but of what she did see, she saw Blake's face start to blush a little bit.

Looking ahead, Ruby realized that Blake was probably the only one who knew where they were going, so she went to go talk to her. "Blake, you know this area well right?"

"Yeah, I do." Blake said back to her.

"Well, we need to get to Schnee Castle, and you're the only one of us who has been here before." Blake smirked, she knew what Ruby was going for.

"You need me to lead everyone there. Am I right?" Ruby's awkward laugh was enough to tell her exactly what she was looking for. "Thought so. Come on then, let's get going." Blake started to lead them on. "We're gonna be going through a lot of back routes. I personally would rather we stay away from as much of the military as possible."

"You'll get no argument from me." Ruby said back to her.

Blake led them through the streets of Fangorn towards the edge of the city. Once they got there, it was a short hike towards the Castle. Once they got there, Ruby looked up at it, her mouth agape with awe. It was a pretty large castle, and in typical fashion of the very old rulers, surrounded by a moat. "Really? A Moat? How cliche can you get?" Yang said.

"This castle has been around for centuries. It shouldn't be a surprise to the people who live here that there's a moat." Blake said back to her.

"Either way, it just makes our job that much harder." Ruby said. She stood before everyone, looking back at them. She sighed before she began to explain to them her plan. "So, I got some good news and bad news." Looking at the faces before her, she got a mixed reaction of excitement and concern. "The good news is, I figured out a way to get inside and get to the room where the experiment is in. The bad news is that when we get in there, we're gonna have to split up."

"Split up? Are you sure that's such a good idea Ruby?" Pyrrha asked.

"I wouldn't suggest it if there was a better way of doing this." Ruby responded, which was received with a nod from Pyrrha, she seemed to understand Ruby's thinking. "When we get in there, Blake and Yang, you two need to find the security office and disable any security cameras or traps in our way. Jaune, Pyrrha, you two are in charge of finding the main office. Once you get there, you need to find a blueprint of the building so that you can guide me into the room the experiment is being held."

"Sounds simple enough." Yang said.

"Easier said than done. Plans only last until the first shot gets fired. After that, you got to work with what you're given." Blake said back to Yang. "But either way Yang and I can handle that."

"Same with Jaune and myself. We'll be able to guide you to the experiment, whoever they may be." Pyrrha said to Ruby. Jaune just gave Ruby a nod, showing that he was ready for it as well.

"Great. I know things will go well, but when I give word to leave, you guys leave ok? We'll all meet back up out here once we're done." Ruby said. She turned around and dropped off anything she didn't need. "We'll throw the rest of our stuff into the tree over here, and we can come back for it later." Turning back towards the castle, she set her sights on their objective. getting the experiment out of that castle.


	10. The Experiment Pt1

**AN: So this is a really big point in the story, so big, I have to split it into two parts to cover. Firstly, by the end of the chapter, everyone should be able to tell who the experiment is. Second I actually had the idea to use this when I first came up with the story, it actually being one of, if not the very first concept I came up with for this story. I really hope you guys enjoy this chapter and the very next chapter afterwards, because I really enjoyed writing this one. Thanks for reading, and please follow, favorite, review (If you want to of course) and most of all, I really hope you enjoy this chapter.**

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As they all approached the castle, a feeling of calm somehow stayed with them. Jaune was feeling surprisingly calm about this, and he was the least experienced out of everyone there. Somehow, he felt like he was able to take care of himself if he needed to. He watched as Ruby took out her scythe and propelled herself up to one of the side windows. Blake then pulled out her weapon and converted it into some kind of gun from what Jaune saw. She then threw it up to where Ruby was, with some kind of ribbon on the end of it to keep herself connected to it. Once Ruby grabbed hold of the weapon, Blake and Ruby pulled tight so that they created a rope up to the window Ruby was next to. "Now you guys got to go climbing." Blake said to the rest of the group.

Pyrrha went first, grabbing a hold of the ribbon with her hands, and then lifting her legs onto the line so that she was able to climb up securely. She quickly made her way up the line and opened the window, peeking in before actually climbing inside. Jaune went up next, with much less grace than Pyrrha, though he managed to get up there anyway. Yang wanted to get up on her own with Ember Celica, but Blake advised against it. "We need to be quiet at this point, so don't give our position away just yet. Yang of course wasn't too thrilled about that, but she understood why Blake said what she said. So she quickly made her way up the line to Ruby's position. Once she got up there, Pyrrha stood looking out the window. She gestured for Ruby to let Blake hold her weapon while she get her up here. Ruby got the message and threw Blake's weapon, Gambrol Shroud back down to her.

Blake seemed confused at first, but once her weapon was back in her hands, she saw what was happening. Her weapon was being lifted up towards the window, Blake noticing that it was Pyrrha's doing once she got closer to the window itself. Once Blake was high enough, she was able to climb into the window on her own. "Nice trick."

"Glad you approve." Pyrrha said as Ruby and Yang both made their way into the room with them. From where they were, there was no guards in front of them.

"Ok, this is where we split up. Yang, you and Blake need to find the security office quickly. From there, you will be able to shut down any security in our way." Blake gave a nod as Yang gave a thumbs up.

"We got this." Yang stated, confident as ever. She started to head out of the room in a rush.

Blake just shook her head and started to chase after her. "I'll try to keep her from getting us into any trouble." She quickly said to Ruby as she chased after Yang.

Ruby quickly turned to Jaune and Pyrrha. "It's ok, we'll find the floor plan for you Ruby. Don't worry about it." Pyrrha said as they too, left to handle their own job. Ruby just took it for what it was, and knew she had to start making her own way through the castle. The less that everyone else had to deal with, the better.

* * *

Blake quickly caught up with Yang, who was getting ready to pound on one of the many doors. Yang had her fist cocked back and ready to strike, before she felt someone holding her arm back. Looking back to see who it was, she noticed it was Blake, and so she lowered her fist. Blake motioned a single finger up to her lips, hoping to tell Yang to stay on the quieter side. "Yang, don't go busting down doors on a whim. We need to be subtle about this or else the entire castle will know we're here and we'll be putting all of us in trouble."

Yang could see how that would be a much smarter choice. "Well then, how do you suppose we do this then?"

Blake thought about it for a second, before she looked to try and simply open the door. Seeing that it was unlocked, she quietly opened the door so that she could look inside real quick. She turned to Yang and held up three fingers, indicating three enemies in the room. "Remember, quick and quiet." Yang nodded and readied Ember Celica. Blake pulled out Gambrol Shroud and opened the door so that the two of them could quietly slip in without being seen by the guards. Once they were in, Blake moved forward and up behind the first guard. Right as she got behind the guard, Yang charged forward and threw a punch at the second guard, while Blake punctured the first guard from behind with her blade. The third guard stood frozen for a second as he saw his two counterparts cut down quickly, and quietly since Yang didn't fire off her weapon. Blake looked ready to cut him down, but decided to simply hold the blade up to his throat at the last second.

"Security office. Where is it and how do we get there?" Blake said quickly.

The security guard was so scared he wasn't able to speak. Yang made sure that both of the other guards were out before she walked over to check in on Yang. "Who do we got here?" Yang asked.

"Just a guard with a problem answering a simple question." Blake said back.

"He, I've dealt with his kind before." She knelt down, facing the scared guard sitting against the wall he was pinned up against. "You think we should break his kneecaps first, or elbows?" The guard started to grow pale, and Blake seemed a bit weirded out. "Personally I like to break the elbows first, most people don't expect it and it hurts actually more than the kneecaps." Yang turned to face the guard, who was still staying completely quiet. Yang shrugged her shoulders. "Well, I warned you." She grabbed the guard and threw him down onto his stomach, holding his left arm in her hand with her knee laying on top of his arm above the elbow. "Elbow it is." Yang was about to pull the elbow out of place and destroy it, before the guard called out for mercy.

"Se-securit-ty office i-is one floor a-above th-this one. Third door down the hall from the stairs at the end of this hallway." He said before he passed out. Blake just looked up at yang and smirked.

"Well that seemed to be a bit much Yang." Blake said.

Yang shrugged and threw her arm over Blake's shoulder. "Eh, what can I say, I'm sure you seem impressed by it." Yang looked over to Blake who started to look off, her face slightly blushed. "Besides, I think you enjoyed seeing that anyway, am I right?"

Now Blake chuckled at that. "Don't be so dramatic." She said as she gave a very sly grin over towards Yang. They walked out the room after Blake quietly killed the last guard. As the two of them walked up the flight of stairs up to the floor with the security office, Blake took charge since she was the stealthier of the two. She peered into all of the rooms without being seen, and saw that the only room that was occupied was the actual security room itself. With only one guard in there, Blake snuck up behind him and impaled Gambrol Shroud through his back and out his chest while his back was turned.

"You're telling me not to be dramatic." Yang said to her when she saw what Blake did.

Blake just rolled her eyes. "At this point, I don't think it really matters what happens to them. They're in our way, and whether we want to or not, we gotta do what we gotta do." Blake said. She had a good point, they needed to get their mission done, and nothing could stop them, something Yang knew oh too well.

"Yeah, sure, let's just get the security down for everyone else to get through." Yang said. Blake stood in front of the security console and looked to find which buttons controlled what security system, without setting off the alarm. After a few seconds of careful thinking, she found out what controlled what, and she switched the camera over to where Jaune and Pyrrha were so that they could shut down the security systems for them.

* * *

Pyrrha hugged the wall that led to a corner, Milo out in it's rifle formation. Down the hallway that she was hidden from, stood three guards having a conversation. Jaune stood off to the side of her, quietly nervous, yet doing his best to not show it, especially in front of Pyrrha. She had to admit, the boy did have some unique charm to him that she found interesting. "Pyrrha, it's Yang, we're in the security office, and we got you on the cameras. You need some help getting through?"

Before they went inside, Ruby made sure to give herself, Pyrrha and Yang a way to communicate with each other, that way they could keep each other up to date in the moment, whenever it needed it. "A little help would be wonderful, thank you." Pyrrha whispered, she didn't want anyone of them to hear her. Before she knew it, the power went out in the hallway. She could only guess that it was Yang's doing, and so she gave word to Jaune to move up with her. Switching Milo to it's sword formation, she moved quietly towards the guards, knowing one of them would have the location of the main office. As she and Jaune got close, the lights came back on, and Pyrrha took the moment of confusion on the guards faces to strike, slashing the throat of the first guard and kicking back the second guard.

As Pyrrha turned to face the third guard, she saw that Jaune was blocking him off with his shield. As he knocked him back a few feet, she quickly charged forward and impaled her sword into his chest, killing him instantly. The third guard, was about to run, but tripped as he tried to turn around, leaving Pyrrha with an opportunity to move over to him and question him. "Where's the main office?"

This guard was much smarter, answering almost right away. "D-down the hall and to the left. You'll need this keycard to get in." He held out his keycard to Jaune. "Please, let me go, I have a family back home, and I never even liked this job anyway. I don't want to die for that sick bastards cause." He was talking about the ruler of the castle, who goes by the same namesake. Geist Schnee, the man who was a master in the field of dust mining. Since Menagerie had a huge dust deposits underneath it's surface, he decided to set up his home outside of the capital, away from the run down city, yet close to where the dust could be sold for the most profits he could pull in.

"I'm so sorry, but I can't risk it." Pyrrha lifted her sword into the air, ready to kill him, before she felt a hand on her arm, holding her back. She turned to look at who it was, and she saw Jaune, with a sad look on his face, staring right at her.

"He's no harm to us Pyrrha, let him go back to his family." He said with the greatest compassion for this stranger. It was something that she didn't expect from Jaune, she believed that he would understand her actions. But something about his defiance, something that seemed like he wanted to do what he felt was right. "It's the right thing to do." Pyrrha sighed, standing up and pulling the man to his feet.

"You're free to go, but don't make me regret this ok?" The man nodded and walked away, a smile gracing the man's face. Once he was out of sight, Pyrrha turned towards where the man had pointed their path take them, leading Jaune over to where the main office was. She opened the door slowly, hoping that there was no one inside the room, which to her fortune, was empty. As she walked inside, she started to search for the floor plan to the castle. "Go check to see if there is any important documentation we should take with us. I doubt that there will be anything that we could use, but anything on this experiment could be invaluable to our efforts here today." She spoke to Jaune.

It took her a few minutes, but she eventually found a floor plan to the castle. "Aha, here we go. You find anything Jaune?" Jaune didn't say a word. "Jaune?"

Jaune was looking at a piece of paper, one that no one expected to find. "This is all because of him?" He said, Pyrrha not able to understand any of it.

"Pardon?" She asked him.

"Read this." He turned to face her, holding a piece of paper in his hands held out for her to read.

Pyrrha grabbed the paper and saw that it was a letter to the castle's owner, and that in the letter, the Schnee Mining Company was directly responsible for the Dragon's original awakening. Pyrrha stood there in shock at the news, she couldn't believe what she was reading. "I don't believe it." She folded the paper and put it into her pocket. "We had better show this to Ruby, she'll want to see it. Have you found anything else Jaune?"

He shook his head. "Not a thing other than that. Whatever information that he had on this person, he must have kept it hidden away so no one could see it."

Pyrrha nodded, there wasn't much else they could do at this point. So she decided to just lead Ruby over to where the experiment was being held. "Ruby come in, can you hear me?"

* * *

Ruby was being as quiet as possible, sneaking through the halls of the castle like a ghost. When Pyrrha called her, she knew that her part of the plan was now taking place. Pyrrha relayed the information between herself, Ruby and Yang so that Ruby knew the quickest path to get over to where the experiment was being held. It was in a high tower in the castle, with only one point of entry, that was heavily guarded. Ruby needed to find a different way in. She walked over to the castle wall and noticed a single window that stood inside the wall of the tower. She realized that her only way of getting into the tower, was through that window, which meant that she would end up drawing a little attention to herself when she would go up there.

Ruby pulled Crescent Rose out from behind her back, and transformed it into its scythe form. Once it was done, she started to take off in a run towards the tower. When she felt like she got close enough, she jumped, and shot Crescent Rose from behind her, letting the recoil of the blast propel her up towards the window. With her momentum only carrying her so far, she fired two more times before she managed to make it up to the window, crashing threw it as she came up to it. When she broke through the glass, she did her best to shield herself from the shards that were created from it, rolling along the ground to slow down her momentum.

Ruby looked around the room to see if anyone was in there, herself being the only clear person in the room. Once she saw that the coast was clear, she gave a more thorough look to try and find the experiment. What she found gave her chills, tattered and bloody clothes lay along one side of the room, next to broken machinery and scrap. She saw a table in the room that looked like a normal desk, yet it seemed as though it was just for decoration, and not used at all.

As she looked further around the room, she found the experiment, and it just made Ruby freeze in horror at what she saw. She saw a mechanical container with a layer of glass holding it's contents inside. What was worse was that the inside of the container, housed a young girl about the same age as Ruby, with long white hair, floating inside what appeared to be some sort of clear liquid. A mask was pressed against the girls face to keep her from drowning, and her slim body was barely covered, with only a simple rag covering her chest and womanhood. Ruby walked up to the glass, and pressed her hand against it, looking at this girl that seemed to just float there, wearing an sad expression on her face that was also marked with a jagged scar traveling vertically down her left eye.

Ruby was shocked at what she was seeing, the girl was nothing more than a lab rat at this point. Only one thing crossed Ruby's mind in the split second before she took action.

'_I have to get you out._'


	11. The Experiment Pt 2

**AN: I couldn't help but put this out a week early. (Btw longest chapter for this story) It's one of those things where I felt like not finishing this little tale would be an outrageous thing to do, so I wanted to give you guys something for being absolutely awesome. Between my stories Life of a White Rose and Brand New World, I have such a long story that I don't think will end any time soon. But with this story and my new story Grand Theft RWBY, I see the potential for them to be so much bigger than those two stories. But enough about that, thanks for all of the praise and kind words for all of you out there, even the ones who have posted negative feedback, thank you as well. I read everything you have to say, I listen to what you say, and I respond plenty of times. While not always, I try my best to respond as often as possible. Anyway, thanks for all the support you guys have given me, and please enjoy this read, because I enjoyed writing it and I hope that you get the same feelings that I get when you read it.**

Ruby worked quickly to finding out how to remove the cage that held this young girl in it. She tried to find some notes hidden inside of the room, a set of switches that unlocked the chamber, and she even at one point tried to break the chamber open by force. None of it worked though, and she started to grow more frustrated. She didn't know what to do, and she was afraid that she could save this person, whomever they were. Not even a name, something that she was hoping to learn about, among many other things, but it just wasn't working out that way. Before she knew it, there was a voice coming into her ear trying to get a hold of her.

"Yo, Rubes, you have the experiment?" Yang asked. It must have been a while since Ruby last talked to Yang, and now she realized that she needed help.

"I found her, but I think we need a technician to get to her though." Ruby said.

"The experiment is a girl? Well now, that's pretty cool." Yang said. "Either way, me and Blake can find you one of these technicians and send him up to you."

Ruby was relieved to hear some good news. She knew that she had to wait a little bit, but it was better than letting this girl suffer any longer than she had to.

* * *

Once Yang got off the hook with Ruby, she knew that time was short. Finding a technician would be easy, it would be a different matter of getting him or her to cooperate with them. Yang walked over to the console and started to filter through the cameras, trying to find the nearest person with what appeared to be a technician's outfit. "Blake, when I find a techie, you go grab them and bring em back here ok?" Blake nodded and ran out of the room. At this point, she was less concerned about stealth, and more concerned about the speed at which she was to perform her task. Something compelled her to move and so she didn't question what she was doing.

Along the way, she encountered some guards. Pulling out Gambrol Shroud and using it as a pistol, she threw it towards the guards. It went past them, but it was connected to Blake by some ribbon she hid under her black cloak. Pulling back on the ribbon, she managed to strike the first of the guards in the back, and angle it so that when she fired the pistol, the bullet would strike the second of the four guards that stood there. With both of them down, she pulled Gambrol Shroud back and started to swing it around, letting the ribbon carry it in a circle as it struck down the last two guards. Pulling her weapon back to her, she replaced it onto her back and continued her way to the tech head.

Blake didn't have to travel much farther before she found her target, surrounded by two guards. She pulled out her blade and ran towards them, the guards unsuspecting until it was too late. Once they were both cut down, Blake turned her attention towards the technician. "You worked on the experiment right?" The tech was shaking at this point, but he somehow managed to nod yes. "If you can help me get the containment pod open and the person inside out, then you walk. If not, then pray to whatever god you believe in, because you're seeing him tonight."

"O-ok, ju-just don't k-k-k-kill me please." The techie said, visibly shaking and his voice giving away his fear.

Blake smiled, she ordered the technician to follow her, returning to the room Yang was in. By that point, security knew that they were there, so guards were coming towards the security room. Blake arrived just in time to see a guard burst through the door and hit the wall on the other side. Looking inside she saw Yang smiling, she was enjoying the fight. "Having fun Yang?" Blake asked.

"Oh-ho you have no idea Blakey. I would give you a hug right now, but I'm kinda sweaty from all this hard work that I've been doing." Yang said, her grin growing even wider, and filled with a devilish touch.

"Oh great, I'm partnered with a fiend." Blake said, her eyes rolling, yet her face still holding a smile around Yang.

"Admit it, you love me." Yang said.

Blake chuckled. "I would, but we got bigger things to worry about right now."

"Ugh, fine, back to work I guess. But when we get out of this, I'm getting some fun time with you." Yang said as she walked with Blake over to the console with the techie.

Blake's face turned beat red when she heard Yang. "Oh god Yang, seriously?"

"What can't take the heat?" Yang said.

Blake just kept her mouth shut, she knew things needed to be taken care of and she had to get herself together. What mattered now wasn't her mood towards Yang, but of the real reason they were there to begin with, the experiment. Turning towards the tech person that she had just brought over to help them break the experiment out, she began to question him on what to do. "You know how to open the container right?" He nodded to Blake. "Good, now you're going to go step by step and show me exactly how to do that. I have someone with the experiment now ready to free her, and I will know if you're lying or not."

The technician nodded, and proceeded to write down a list of instructions. "What's that?" Yang asked.

"It's um, uh uh a list of instructions on how to uh, safely open the container, without killing the girl inside." The technician was stumbling over his words, evidently nervous by the two armed women who were putting his life on the line. "You, you need to first, deactivate the safety protocol from the console over there." He said pointing to the main security console. "It needs a c-code that I uh, have right here." He said, holding the key card containing the code up to Blake. Blake took the key card and dragged the man over to the console.

"You know how to work this better than I do, and we're kinda in a hurry." She said to the man, who was visibly sweating from the pressure of both Blake and Yang. "My friend here has a bit of a temper." Blake said, throwing a smirk towards Yang.

"Hey!" Yang shouted.

"Either way, I wouldn't want to upset her if I were you, the last guy who upset her is laying dead a floor below us because he wouldn't cooperate." The man's eyes widened, and Blake moved in closer. "You wouldn't want her to get upset with you now would you?" She said, merely whispering into the man's ear. The man instantly turned towards the console and disabled the safety protocols as fast as he could. "Good choice." Blake said. "Now, what's next."

More calmly, the man took a deep breath to keep his nerves in check. "This person you have in there needs to flip the lifesign monitor switch, but before they do that, once she does that, there is a button that she needs to press that will drain the fluids inside the container. If she doesn't hit that right away, it could damage the subject."

That set Blake off. "Subject? That's a living person inside of there. Don't think that it's ok for you to just go and disregard the life of a person." Blake said passionately.

"I-I never once agreed to any of this, but it's not like I had a choice. If we didn't say that then we would get yelled at by Mr. Schnee himself. I really hated to do that but I had to bite my tongue." The technician said, regret filling his voice.

"That doesn't excuse the fact that you not only didn't help this poor girl, but actually caused her more pain and suffering, just to-" Blake felt someone grab her shoulder, turning around to see that it was Yang grasping her.

"Blake, what are you doing?" Yang asked, pulling her away from the technician, while never letting him out of her sight. "What did he do that he deserves this kind of treatment?"

"He stood by and just let this torture happen without doing anything Yang. He should have done something." Blake said

"And what could he have done exactly?" Yang said, standing up to Blake for this man she had never met before today. "I'm pretty sure based off what we've been seeing and hearing today that if he stood up, it wouldn't have ended well for him. Would you want him to die just for standing up?"

Blake just stood there, the tension building up inside of her. "He deserves a chance at life too Blake, just remember that." Yang walked back over to the technician, letting Blake have a moment to cool off. "Look, just ignore that. Just make sure that our friend in the tower with the experiment knows what to do." Yang leaned in so that the sound of the technician's voice was able to be heard from Ruby herself.

* * *

Ruby stood around waiting for something from Yang and Blake to come through. At one point she noticed something going on with the machine keeping the experiment it's prisoner, but nothing changed since. She started to think about the girl inside, how terrible her life must have been. Somehow she almost knew that it wouldn't be easy, trying to talk to this girl, but she had to try. It was only when Yang got back onto the line, that Ruby was brought back into reality.

"Hey Ruby, I've got a technician who is going to tell you what to do." Yang said, quickly.

Before Ruby could speak again, the sound of a different voice, one she didn't recognize came up. "You need to first, flip the lifesign monitor switch. Once you do that, there will be a green button right next to it that will drain the container's fluid."

"Ok, so after that how do I get her out of that container, and get that mask off of her?" Ruby asked.

"The lifesign monitor switch will automatically remove the mask, hence why you need to drain the fluid as fast as possible. Now once the fluid is drained, there will be a button on the side of the pod that will open the front of the container, and let the, girl, out." The technician said.

"Ok, don't go anywhere in case something goes awry." Ruby found the switch that the man was talking about, flipping it after she found the button to drain the container. Once she flipped the switch, she pressed the button, and then ran over to open the container while the fluid was still draining. Not electing to wait for the fluid to drain, she opened the container, letting the contents spill onto the floor. "Yang, Blake, Pyrrha, Jaune, get out of here. I'll meet you outside the walls when I'm done in here." As the girl in the container fell out, Ruby noticed that she had regained consciousness, landing on her hands and knees, and coughing up any fluids in her lungs. Ruby noticed this and ran over to help her, forgetting about everything else. "Hey hey hey, just relax, you're gonna be fine." Ruby said.

The girl finally looked at her, and her expression changed. She looked shocked, feeling like Ruby was a threat to her. She somehow managed to push Ruby away, throwing her to the wall, and run towards something on the other side of the room. Unfortunately, her body didn't have enough time to wake up enough, and so she fell down onto the ground again. Ruby decided to take a more tactful approach with her, realizing that she was confused as to what was going on. "Woah, take it easy. I'm not here to hurt you." Ruby said.

"Why should I believe that?" Ruby heard the girl said, noticing her stand up as the girls body started to come to life. "What makes you any different than everyone else here?" The girl asked.

Ruby decided to show a gesture of good will, electing to take her own weapon, and place it on the ground away from her as she moved forward slowly. "I'm here to help you." Ruby said. The girl looked at her with a clear intent of not letting her defense fall.

"Is this another test?" The girl asked.

"Pardon?"

"Is this another one of his tests? Are you just here to fight me?" She said.

"I don't know what kind of tests you are talking about, but I have nothing to do with them, or the people here." Ruby said, genuine concern and care in her voice.

The girl picked up on that, electing to hear Ruby out. "Then what are you here for?"

Ruby smiled. "To help get you out of here." Ruby slowly moved closer and closer. "My name is Ruby. Do you, mind if I ask what your name is?"

The girl shut her eyes for a second. "Why?" Ruby's expression changed, her demeanor showing confusion. " Why do you care to know? No one else wants to know so why do you?"

Ruby could tell that something was truly bothering this girl. She needed a friend, not someone that was going to lead her into battle. She knew that it wasn't truly fair of her to ask all this from the girl, but she had to. "I want to know because I want you to come with me." The girl in front of Ruby stood there, staring at Ruby, who was just smiling. "I want to be your friend."

That struck a chord within the girl, having someone who was her friend. She lowered her guard and decided to relent, realizing that this girl had good intentions. "I've never had a friend before." The girl said.

"Well then, I would be more than happy to be your first friend." Ruby said. "We'll go traveling the lands, fighting off evil dragons and rescuing princesses. You and me, the team of Ruby and...and...uh..." Ruby realized her mistake, in her moment of just relaxing, she realized that the girl never said her name.

"Weiss." The girl said. "My name is Weiss."

Ruby smiled. "That's a really nice name Weiss." Ruby said, walking over to her. "Do you want to come with me?"

Weiss pondered for a few seconds. "Where would we go and what would we do?" Weiss asked Ruby.

"Well, we would go all over the world, traveling all over. As for what we would do, well, what do you want to do?" Ruby asked Weiss.

Weiss didn't know what to say, she never had been asked what she wanted. "I, I don't know exactly."

"Well then..." Ruby said as she finally stood directly in front of Weiss. "...I'll help you find out what you want to do."

Weiss smiled for a split second. "Well then I guess I'll go with you." Ruby's face turned ecstatic, before Weiss continued. "However, I have a few things that I need to put together first, and clothes to change into."

"Right, don't rush yourself on my account though." Ruby said. "I need to think of a way for us to get out of here.

Weiss walked over towards one of the tables along the wall, a bag placed upon it's top. She started to load containers of something only she knew about inside of it. Once she filled the bag with a large amount of those containers, taking all that she could, she walked over to a wardrobe to put on something decent. Ruby called out to Weiss, breaking the girls concentration. "So I think we're going to have to leave the same way I came in." Ruby said as she was looking out the window.

"Don't tell me we're having to jump." Weiss said, wishing that maybe she didn't let herself get into it with the red haired girl.

"I can't promise that, but it will be fun of course." Weiss questioned this girls idea of fun.

"Maybe to you, but I actually want to live for a few minutes." Weiss said quietly to herself. She pulled out a white sleeveless shirt and a pair of light blue shorts that were loose on her legs. She pulled out a white bolero jacket to place over top of her shirt and she slipped into a pair of white boots. She wrapped a thin white scarf around her neck and she pulled her hair into an off center ponytail. Before she turned to Ruby, she walked over to a small weapons rack, and looked through the weapon choices, electing to use a weapon she had much confidence in using. It wasn't much by many people's standards, but it was nothing to mess with. Named Myrtenaster, the weapon was a rapier that housed a revolving dust barrel that enhanced the blade with different abilities. Now that she was ready to leave, she turned towards Ruby. "I hope you know what you're doing." Weiss said to her.

"Eh, kinda. I got in pretty easily, so getting down shouldn't be too hard. Just hold on tight to me ok?" Ruby said, making sure that she had her weapon with her.

"Like I have much of a choice anyway." Weiss grabbed a hold of Ruby's waist as Ruby climbed onto the window sill. "Are you sure about this?" Weiss said to Ruby.

"Totally. Remember, just hold on." Ruby jumped, with Weiss hanging on for dear life. pulling Crescent Rose out and transforming it into it's scythe form, Ruby fired off a couple of shots that gave the two of them the momentum to make it over the wall and past the moat. The two of them approached the ground at incredible speed, forcing Ruby to fires some shots off to slow them down. As the were about to make contact with the ground, Ruby threw her arms around Weiss and took the brunt of the impact with the ground, before the two of them continued their momentum for another few feet rolling on the ground. As they stopped, Weiss laid atop of Ruby, and immediately jumped off of her. "Well that was a thing." Ruby said. "You alright Weiss?"

"Can we not do that again?" Weiss said as she stood up, walking over to Ruby and helping her to the girls feet herself. "I'd hate it if this new freedom didn't last."

Ruby looked over to notice Yang and everyone else heading towards them. "Hey Ruby, you ok?" Yang shouted. Weiss drew her weapon, not knowing who these people were. Ruby noticed though and fortunately stepped in.

"It's ok Weiss. Their my friends." Weiss looked to Ruby, hoping she was telling the truth. Once she lowered her weapon, Ruby began introductions. "Ok, so this is my sister Yang, that's Pyrrha, Jaune, and this is Blake." She gestured to each one so that Weiss would know who was who. "Now, everyone, this is Weiss. I hope you guys show her just how kind hearted you all are ok?"

"Of course." Pyrrha said. Before anyone else could say anything, they noticed that the guards were starting to muster in the castle. They were about to be chased after.

"We need to leave now." Jaune said.

Ruby wasn't about to argue with that, but she turned to Weiss first. "You going to be ok Weiss? Once you come with us, I don't think there's a way to turn back."

Weiss just sighed, she felt free for the first time. "I don't want to go back. This is the first time where I can choose how I live my life. I'm not letting that go anytime soon."

Ruby nodded, a smile plastered on her face, as she turned to everyone. "We need to leave now." Turning back to Weiss, she let everyone else get ahead so they wouldn't interrupt them. "I'm sorry for doing this to you when you just met me."

"Don't worry about it right now. I'm sure there are other things that are more important than that, such as staying alive." Weiss said. Ruby just nodded as they all ran, the hunters now becoming the hunted.


	12. On the Run

**AN: Hey so I know this is about 10 hours earlier than when it would normally come out, however I have a really good reason for that. I'm currently very busy with a project for my Video Field Production class, and I have to recreate a movie scene. Now as is, I'm normally a pretty busy person, but with this project I've been even more busy than usual and I'm pretty much doing nothing but that project for the rest of the weekend except for saturday, when I'm playing in an ultimate frisbee tournament all day. So that being said, I'm putting this out early to give me some room to work with in regards to everything.**

**Now that I got that out of the way, I wanted to do a little bit of explaining, since I had this brought up to me. In this world, there are certain points where the technology of this universe seems to be a bit far fetched, however there is a trend when it comes to stuff like that. Usually you see the people who have a lot of wealth and authority being the ones who have the more advanced technology, examples being the Schnee Mining Company Owner, Lord Ozpin, Queen Glynda. They all have the common factor of them being in positions of power and wealth, and they use it in different ways of course, but they still use it to have a technological aspect to their rule. As for Ruby and company, each of them earned their more tech like equipment through their position and through the quest they are currently on.  
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**I know this is a long AN but I wanted to explain some things to you guys because this was brought up to me by Tear of Light (shout out to you by the way Tear, I had a nice time chatting with you) and so I felt like I should try to explain things so that they would make more sense to everyone. Other than that, I only have one more thing to say. The containers that Weiss grabbed before she left with Ruby, while they were filled with dust, it wasn't the kind of dust that would be used with her weapon. They serve an entirely different purpose which is something that I really am glad that I was able to think of.**

**I lied, I actually have another thing to say. Sometime next week when I have a chance, I will be posting a video that will give you guys the opportunity to ask me questions about my stories. Once I make the video, I'll be sure to say something to everyone so that you guys can go check that out. I hope you guys take the chance to know about what I'm thinking because it's always interesting to find out about that kind of stuff.**

**Thanks for reading, please give this a follow, a favorite, a review, or just read it if you want to. Most importantly though, I hope you enjoy the chapter.**

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They ran for what felt like hours, but in reality it wasn't as long as they though. After escaping the castle, Ruby and her company of warriors were trying to avoid a fight with the castle's guards, who were all chasing after them. Their success in freeing the experiment, who stood next to Ruby, had caused the guards to turn their full attention towards finding them. They ran as fast as they could, pushing their bodies to the limit, but even they knew that it wouldn't be long before they had to stop. Ruby kept looking for places to hide out for a short time, until the guards chase was called off.

"Ruby, we've been running for quite a while, and I'm sure all of us are getting tired." Yang said. She was right, all of them were starting to get tired and worn out. Ruby could only imagine what was running through everyone's minds at that moment in time.

"We need to find a place to hide out, but right now, I haven't been able to find anything that could sustain us." Ruby said back to Yang. "I'm sure that fighting would do more harm to us than good, so right now, we have no choice but to run." Ruby knew the grim reality of the situation. "At this point, they wouldn't try to negotiate with us. All they care about is getting Weiss back, so I'm sure they would easily kill us if given the opportunity. We can't give them that chance." Ruby led them on, knowing that they couldn't stop running.

Weiss looked at her knowing full well how dire a situation they were in as well. She knew just how dangerous those people were, having spent her entire life being around them. If she knew anything about Geist Schnee, her own father, then she knew that he would stop at nothing to get what he wanted. Whether it be discovering the powers that come from dust, the source of advancement for the human race, or controlling the masses of people under his rule, he would stop for nothing when he wanted something. She knew that Ruby was right, running was the only course of action.

Looking up at the rest of the people she had just met, she felt a bit of distrust towards them, even Ruby to a slight degree. She figured that Ruby would understand, they had just met and she didn't know what to expect from any of them, or from this journey they were on. She figured they would do what they could to win over her trust, but there was some things that she would rather keep to herself at the end of the day. From what she could tell of her new 'friends', they would do what they could to earn her trust, some more than others. In the end though, Weiss would remain cautious around them until she felt more comfortable and willing to trust each of them, and she turned back to the task of running.

Ruby looked up ahead of them, a clearing that gave them free reign to seek out any place to hide. Ruby didn't know what else they could do at that point, and if they had to fight, at least she would be able to fight without being restricted within the trees. Once they got to the clearing, Ruby looked behind them and didn't notice the guards. "I...I think..." Jaune started to say, catching his breath for a second. "...I think we lost them." He said.

"They won't stop, not until they have what they came for." Weiss said, cold and straight to the point.

"You know, why do you have to act like that?" Yang said to Weiss, getting right up into her face. "You certainly act like you know everything don't you."

Weiss just shook her head, not the least bit intimidated by Yang's much taller, much larger frame. "I'm just being a realist here. And unlike you, I do know more about those guards that are following us than you do."

Yang groaned, she knew that the two of them weren't going to get along for a long time, Weiss could tell as well. Ruby walked over in between them and separated them. "Look, right now we shouldn't be fighting each other. Weiss, Yang does have a point in that we don't know whether they are still close to us or not." Weiss looked stunned for a second while Yang smirked at Weiss, before Ruby turned her attention to Yang. "And Yang, Weiss is right in the fact that she knows the guards better than all of us, so we should trust what she says." Now both of them had turned to Ruby, both acknowledging their rights and wrongs in the situation.

"Fine, I'm willing to put this aside for now. We have bigger problems to worry about at the moment, and I can hold off on this until we get away from the guards." Weiss said first, after a long uncomfortable silence. Blake started to look around, believing to have heard something coming towards them from the forest, something dangerous. She was the only one that seemed to notice this, while everyone else was focused on Yang and Weiss arguing.

"Yeah, same here. I'm sure that princess here wouldn't mind that as well, knowing that she probably wouldn't win in a fight with me." Yang said, prodding the bull with that remark.

"Excuse me?" Weiss said.

Ruby tried to hold Weiss back with that, and Jaune and Pyrrha kept Yang back as well. Blake was still distracted, hearing the sounds of something coming right towards them. "You heard me." Yang said back.

"Guys stop this. Seriously this is not the time for a fight." Ruby said to both of them, doing her best to calm them down. Blake now heard the one thing that not a single person ever wanted to hear in their life, the sound of a dark creature coming down from the skies towards them.

Blake turned towards the rest of her companions, doing her best to get their attention. "We need to leave now!" Blake shouted.

"What do you mean, there's nothing near us." Yang said.

Blake pulled out her weapon and readied herself in case of a fight. "Yang there is a pack of Grimm heading straight towards us, and the worst of all, is that there is a Nevermore flying high above us. We need to leave now, or the guards chasing us will be the least of our problems."

Upon hearing that a Nevermore was coming, Ruby knew they were in more trouble than before. A Nevermore was a rare thing in recent times, but they were still the most fearsome and dangerous Grimm that ever existed. Outrunning it wasn't an option, the only options were to try and fight it, or hide in a place where it couldn't get to you and hope that it would leave before you run out of food. "We're leaving, now" Right as Ruby said that, the first of the Grimm came barreling out of the treeline. The pack of Beowolves that came after them charged with incredible speed, taking everyone by surprise. They managed to avoid the first blow as they drew their weapons, each of them preparing to fight off the Grimm.

Once the first Beowolves were held back, the group noticed that more Beowolves and a couple of Ursai had come into the fight as well. They were as good as surrounded and were stuck with only one option left, fight. Each of them started to fight off on their own, doing all that they could to fight off the surrounding Grimm. Ruby was hacking and slashing away with Crescent Rose, taking each Beowolf in her path down one at a time. Unfortunately for all of them, whenever one was killed, it felt like three more would come in to take its place, and there seemed to be no end to their number.

Yang was doing well fighting off the Ursai that had also joined the fray, throwing fist after fist at the creatures. She was enjoying herself, allowing her frustrations from the argument with Weiss to be channeled into her strength. Yang wasn't holding back anything and was letting loose, taking one Ursa down with a flurry of punches. As she turned towards another one, she saw that Blake was on the creatures back, with Gambrol Shroud impaling it's back. The creature fell down on the ground as it died and Blake jumped off of it, landing next to Yang. "You look like you're having fun with this." Blake said.

Yang chuckled. "Who wouldn't? I always enjoy a good brawl." Yang said as she charged back into the fight, Ember Celica armed and ready to take on the next Grimm. Blake followed suit, Gambrol Shroud's sheath in one hand and katana in the other. As the two of them charged in, they fought the Grimm with near perfect coordination, almost as if they had been fighting together for years. When one would land a high strike, the other would roll underneath them and strike from below. They worked well together, something that Yang noticed. "You know, for someone who looks like a loner, you certainly seem to do well when next to someone else." Yang said.

"What makes you say that?" Blake yelled back over to her over the carnage. She took a quick glance over to the others, noticing that Jaune and Pyrrha were back to back, a useful tactic for the kinds of weapons that they have. Ruby was swinging Crescent Rose away, and Blake couldn't tell what Weiss was doing exactly, but she knew that whatever it was, it was doing it's job.

"Because if you haven't noticed, we're both fighting like we've been doing this for years with each other." Blake hadn't noticed that at first, but now that she thought of it, she knew what Yang was going for. Something connected the two of them together, almost like they were destined to meet. Blake started to have a weird feeling rise in her chest, but a swing from a Beowolf that nearly hit her brought her back into reality.

"Let's just take care of business right now, we have more pressing issues, and if we keep fighting, we won't last long." Blake said returning to the fray. She noticed that Yang was starting to move closer towards the rest of the group, so Blake followed suit. Once they got over there, Jaune and Pyrrha felt relieved to have some support for their end of the fight. While Pyrrha was doing well against the Grimm, Jaune was having more trouble than everyone else. Only his determination and stubbornness kept him going and pushed him to keep fighting. Any normal man would have fallen and perished, but he wouldn't give up.

Up above them, they heard the cry of the Nevermore as it came towards them. It distracted them all for a slight second as the cry came about. Pyrrha didn't notice the beowolf that took a swipe to her side. Jaune had just enough time to step in the way and take the blow himself, leaving a large gash leading down from side of his chest to the middle of his abdomen along the right side of his body underneath the arm.. Once Pyrrha noticed what had happened, she quickly killed the creature before catching Jaune as he fell to the ground. "Ruby! Jaune's hurt, we need to leave now!" Pyrrha shouted to Ruby, who heard what had happened and quickly tried to think of something.

Before she could though, she Weiss jump into action. Weiss lay down some glyph like symbols that Ruby didn't understand, which launched the Grim back away from them enough so that they could get some room to breathe. "Ruby, take everyone and get out of here." Weiss said to her.

"We can't go anywhere with that Nevermore right above us." Yang shouted.

Weiss rotated the barrel of her rapier, Myrtenaster, and switched it to the blue setting. She knew exactly how it would work, and would probably have to explain it to everyone else later, but now wasn't the time. "That won't be a problem." Weiss noticed that the Nevermore was starting to dive towards them, and she made her move. She started to run towards the creature and created a glyph that would allow her to move with incredible speed. As she got closer, she leapt into the air with another glyph, waiting until the Nevermore was close enough to the ground. Once it was where she wanted it, she launched herself towards the ground and stabbed the ground with her rapier, creating a ice spike that was moving right towards the Nevermore. It couldn't stop and change its momentum in time and the ice spike drove right through the creatures stomach, the Nevermore unable to survive the blow.

Once Weiss turned around, she saw that everyone else had take the opportunity to get out while they could. She knew that she could catch up to them, but right now, she had to stop the Grimm from being able to follow them. Weiss started to run after Ruby and the rest of the group, piercing the bodies of any Grimm that stood in her way. Once she had made it around the Grimm so that she was in between them and the others, she impaled the ground again, creating a wall of ice between them and herself. Once she was confident that they couldn't get around, Weiss relaxed, trying to catch her breath. The fight had taken a lot out of her, and she still wasn't done. Looking towards where the others went, she created glyph after glyph, each of them propelling her forward with incredible speed until she finally caught up to the others. They had managed to find a cave not far away, near a cliff that stood tall above the treeline.

Ruby and the others set Jaune down on the ground, each of them inspecting his wounds. Ruby didn't think he could survive the injury, and was preparing herself for the eventual outcome that she was certain would come. Once she heard Weiss return, she immediately went over to check on her. "Holy cow Weiss, that was absolutely incredible." Ruby said, quiet enough so that no one else could hear. She didn't want to insult Jaune by acting the way she was. Weiss stumbled a bit, exhaustion starting to creep its way into her body. "Woah woah woah, you alright there Weiss?" Ruby asked.

Weiss composed herself and insured Ruby that she was fine. "I'm fine, right now though it looks like he isn't." Weiss pointed to Jaune "How bad is it?" She asked. Ruby looked down and took a deep breath. It was all Weiss needed to know. Weiss walked past Ruby, a plan clearly forming in her head. Ruby followed her into the cave and watched as Weiss knelt down on one knee to take a look at the wounds herself. Pyrrha and Blake had removed his shirt and armor, leaving him bare chested and showing his gruesome wound clearly. Everyone watched as Weiss took off her jacket, intent on doing something. "Everyone give me some room." She said, Pyrrha and Blake taking a step back so that they were out of Weiss' way.

No one knew what she was going to do, but they weren't going to try to interrupt her if she was trying to help Jaune. Weiss started to move her hands around up in the air, creating more of those glyphs that Ruby saw earlier. The only difference was that the design on the glyph was different than before. As she was doing her work, Yang wanted to know what she was doing. "Whatcha doin' exactly?" Yang questioned, a little bit of force in her voice.

Weiss stopped for a quick second and the glyph disappeared. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath so that she could calm down. "Ruby." Weiss said, grabbing Ruby's full attention. "I need to have complete concentration for this to work, so if you don't mind, can you tell Yang to shut up and let me work?" Weiss said.

Yang looked to take offense to that, but Ruby stepped in and silently told her to do as Weiss says. As Yang looked at Ruby, the younger girl mouthed out 'not while Jaune's life is at risk' to her and that got Yang to shut up. Weiss went back to work, recreating the glyph again and taking a thorough look at the wound itself. There was a good chance that Jaune had ruptured his kidney, and so she would have to fix that first. Aside from torn flesh, a cracked rib here and there, and blood loss, it was lucky that Jaune was still alive. Weiss took the first glyph and moved the glyph over to where his kidney would be and let it rest on his body. Concentrating on repairing the damage to the kidney, she carefully pushed her own body to the limit to heal him.

Once the kidney was fixed, it was relatively simple work from there, seal the wound, support the ribs and force his body to recreate any lost blood. Weiss dismissed the first glyph and created another one, this one much larger. She laid that down over the whole wound and sealed it shut, creating a seal that while it may have been noticeable, it wouldn't come undone on it's own. With the hole shut, Weiss rested her hand on Jaune's side and she started to channel her own energy into him, un-benounced to the rest of the group. Once she felt Jaune's body grow with life, she knew that her job was done, and so she took a step back, only to nearly fall over herself from exhaustion.

Ruby was able to catch Weiss just in time as she fell. "Hey, take it easy Weiss." Ruby looked over to Jaune, who was starting to stir, life returning to his body. She was amazed at how Weiss was able to do that. "I don't know what you did, but that was definitely incredible." Ruby looked over to Weiss, who was breathing heavily, her body shaking from the lack of energy that she had. "You ok Weiss?"

Weiss looked at Ruby and moved herself so that she was leaning against the cave wall. "Yeah, just used up a lot of energy is all." Weiss said as she rested her head. "I'm in no condition to be moving anywhere else though, so it looks like we're stuck here for the night." Weiss said.

Ruby nodded, she knew that they all had to rest. She left the cave for a second and found a large rock that would cover the entrance enough so that no one could get to them. As everyone took the chance to rest, Weiss looked out at her knew friends. While some would be harder to get along with than others, she knew that in the end, there would be at least one person who she guessed would care, Ruby Rose. Right before she fell asleep, Weiss noticed Ruby throw a blanket overtop of her to keep the girl warm, and say goodnight to her. It brought a very small feint smile to Weiss' face right before she drifted off into sleep.


End file.
